Episode treatment groups of correlated medical claims

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method for profiling medical claims to assist health care managers in determining the cost-efficiency and service quality of health care providers. The method allows an objective means for measuring and quantifying health care services. An episode treatment group (ETG) is a patient classification unit, which defines groups that are clinically homogenous (similar cause of illness and treatment) and statistically stable. The ETG grouper methodology uses service or segment-level claim data as input data and assigns each service to the appropriate episode. The program identifies concurrent and recurrent episodes, flags records, creates new groupings, shifts groupings for changed conditions, selects the most recent claims, resets windows, makes a determination if the provider is an independent lab and continues to collect information until an absence of treatment is detected.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This patent application is a divisional application of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/188,986 filed Nov. 9, 1998, which is acontinuation patent application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/493,728, filed on Jun. 22, 1995, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,897 onNov. 10, 1998.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates generally to computer-implementedmethods for processing medical claims information. More particularly,the present invention relates to a computer-implemented method forreceiving input data relating to a person's medical claim, establishinga management record for the person, establishing episode treatmentgroups to define groupings of medical episodes of related etiology,correlating subsequent medical claims events to an episode treatmentgroup and manipulating episode treatment groups based upon time windowsfor each medical condition and co-morbidities.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Due to an increase in health care costs and inefficiency in thehealth care system, health care providers and service managementorganizations need health care maintenance systems which receive inputmedical claim data, correlate the medical claim data and provide a meansfor quantitatively and qualitatively analyzing provider performance.Because of the complex nature of medical care service data, manyclinicians and administrators are not able to efficiently utilize thedata. A need exists for a computer program that transforms inpatient andout patient claim data to actionable information, which is logicallyunderstood by clinicians and administrators.

[0004] Performance is quickly becoming the standard by which health carepurchasers and informed consumers select their health care providers.Those responsible for the development and maintenance of providernetworks search for an objective means to measure and quantify thehealth care services provided to their clients. Qualitative andquantitative analysis of medical provider performance is a key elementfor managing and improving a health care network. Operating a successfulhealth care network requires the ability to monitor and quantify medicalcare costs and care quality. Oftentimes, success depends on theproviders' ability to identify and correct problems in their health caresystem. A need exists, therefore, for an analytical tool for identifyingreal costs in a given health care management system.

[0005] To operate a more efficient health care system, health careproviders need to optimize health care services and expenditures. Manyproviders practice outside established utilization and cost norms.Systems that detect inappropriate coding, eliminate potentiallyinappropriate services or conduct encounter-based payment methodologyare insufficient for correcting the inconsistencies of the health caresystem. When a complication or comorbidity is encountered during thecourse of treatment, many systems do not reclassify the treatmentprofile. Existing systems do not adjust for casemix, concurrentconditions or recurrent conditions. A system that compensates forcasemix should identify the types of illnesses treated in a givenpopulation, determine the extent of resource application to specifictypes of illnesses, measure and compare the treatment patterns amongindividual and groups of health care providers and educate providers tomore effectively manage risk. When profiling claims, existing systemsestablish classifications that do not contain a manageable number ofgroupings, are not clinically homogeneous or are not statisticallystable. A need exists, therefore, for a patient classification systemthat accounts for differences in patient severity and establishes aclearly defined unit of analysis.

[0006] For many years, computer-implemented programs for increasinghealth care efficiency have been available for purchase. Included withinthe current patent literature and competitive information are manyprograms that are directed to the basic concept of health care systems.

[0007] The Mohlenbrock, et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,292, issuedin 1987, discloses a medical reimbursement computer system whichgenerates a list identifying the most appropriate diagnostic-relatedgroup (DRG) and related categories applicable to a given patient forinpatient claims only. The list is limited by a combination of thecharacteristics of the patient and an initial principal diagnosis. Aphysician can choose a new designation from a list of related categorieswhile the patient is still being treated. The manually determined ICD-9numbers can be applied to an available grouper computer program tocompare the working DRG to the government's DRG.

[0008] The Mohlenbrock, et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,067, issuedin 1991, discloses an apparatus and method for improved estimation ofhealth resource consumption through the use of diagnostic and/orprocedure grouping and severity of illness indicators. This system is acomputer-implemented program that calculates the amount of payment tothe health provider by extracting the same input data as that identifiedin the Mohlenbrock '292 Patent teaching the DRG System. The systemcalculates the severity of the patient's illness then classifies eachpatient into sub-categories of resource consumption within a designatedDRG. A computer combines the input data according to a formulaconsisting of constants and variables. The variables are known for eachpatient and relate to the number of ICD codes and the governmentweighing of the codes. The software program determines a set ofconstants for use in the formula for a given DRG that minimizesvariances between the actual known outcomes and those estimated by useof the formula. Because it is based upon various levels of illnessseverity within each diagnosis, the results of this system provide amuch more homogenous grouping of patients than is provided by the DRGs.Providers can be compared to identify those providers whose practicepatterns are of the highest quality and most cost efficient. A set ofactual costs incurred can be compared with the estimated costs. Afterthe initial diagnosis, the system determines the expected costs oftreating a patient.

[0009] The Schneiderman patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,424, issued in 1992,discloses a model user application system for clinical data processingthat tracks and monitors a simulated out-patient medical practice usingdatabase management software. The system allows for a database ofpatients and the entry of EKG and/or chest x-ray (CXR) test results intoseparate EKG/CXR records as distinct logical entities. This systemrequires entry of test results that are not part of the medical claimitself. If not already present, the entry creates a separate lab recordthat may be holding blood work from the same lab test request. Portionsof the information are transferred to the lab record for all requestsituations. Although the lab record data routine is limited to bloodwork, each time the routine is run, historical parameter data are sentto a companion lab record along with other data linking both recordtypes. The system also includes a revision of the system's specialistrecord and the general recommendation from an earlier work for moreexplicit use in information management.

[0010] The Tawil patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,225,976, issued in 1993,discloses an automated health benefit processing system. This systemminimizes health care costs by informing the purchasers of medicalservices about market conditions of those medical services. A databaseincludes, for each covered medical procedure in a specific geographicarea, a list of capable providers and their charges. A first processoridentifies the insured then generates a treatment plan and the requiredmedical procedures. Next, the first processor retrieves informationrelated to the medical procedures and appends the information to thetreatment plan. A second processor generates an actual treatment recordincluding the actual charges. A third processor compares the plan andthe actual records to determine the amounts payable to the insured andthe provider.

[0011] The Ertel patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,262, issued in 1994,discloses a patient data quality review method and system. The systemperforms data quality checks and generates documents to ensure the bestdescription of a case. The system provides file security and tracks thecases through the entire review process. Patient data and systemperformance data are aggregated into a common database that interfaceswith existing data systems. Data profiles categorize data qualityproblems by type and source. Problems are classified as to potentialconsequences. The system stores data, processes it to determinemisreporting, classifies the case and displays the case-specific patientdata and aggregate patient data.

[0012] The Holloway, et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,164, issued in1993, discloses a system and method for detecting fraudulent medicalclaims via examination of service codes. This system interprets medicalclaims and associated representation according to specific rules andagainst a predetermined CPT-4 code database. A knowledge baseinterpreter applies the knowledge base using the rules specified. Thedatabase can be updated as new methods of inappropriate coding arediscovered. The system recommends appropriate CPT codes or recommendspending the claims until additional information is received. Therecommendations are based on the decision rules that physician reviewershave already used on a manual basis.

[0013] The Cummings patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,105, issued in 1994,discloses an all care health management system. The patient-based systemincludes an integrated interconnection and interaction of essentialhealth care participants to provide patients with complete support. Thesystem includes interactive participation with the patients employersand banks. The system also integrates all aspects of the optimization ofhealth-inducing diet and life style factors and makes customizedrecommendations for health-enhancing practices. By pre-certifyingpatients and procedures, the system enhances health care efficiency andreduces overhead costs.

[0014] The Dorne patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,293, issued in 1994,discloses a system and method for correlating medical procedures andmedical billing codes. After an examination, the system automaticallydetermines raw codes directly associated with all of the medicalprocedures performed or planned to be performed with a particularpatient. The system allows the physician to modify the procedures afterperforming the examination. By manipulating the raw codes, the systemgenerates intermediate and billing codes without altering the raw codes.

[0015] The Kessler, et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,077, issued in1994, discloses a negotiable medical data draft for tracking andevaluating medical treatment. This system gathers medical data fromambulatory visits using a medical data draft completed by the providerto obtain payment for services, to permit quality review by medicalinsurers. In exchange for immediate partial payment of services,providers are required to enter data summarizing the patient's visit onnegotiable medical drafts. The partial payments are incentives toproviders for participating in the system.

[0016] The Torma, et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,425, issued in1994, discloses a method and system for measuring managementeffectiveness. Quality, cost and access are integrated to provide aholistic description of the effectiveness of care. The system comparesgeneral medical treatment databases and surveyed patient perceptions ofcare. Adjustments based on severity of illness, case weight and militarycosts are made to the data to ensure that all medical facilities areconsidered fairly.

[0017] Health Chex's PEER-A-MED computer program is a physician practiceprofiling system that provides case-mix adjusted physician analysisbased on a clinical severity concept. The system employs a multivariatelinear regression analysis to appropriately adjust for case-mix. Afteradjusting for the complexity of the physician's caseload, the systemcompares the relative performance of a physician to the performance ofthe peer group as a whole. The system also compares physicianutilization performance for uncomplicated, commonly seen diagnosis.Because the full spectrum of clinical care that is rendered to a patientis not represented in its databases, the system is primarily used as aneconomic performance measurement tool. This system categorizes theclaims into general codes including acute, chronic, mental health andpregnancy. Comorbidity and CPT-4 codes adjust for acuity level. Thecodes are subcategorized into twenty cluster groups based upon the levelof severity. The system buckets the codes for the year and contains noapparent episode building methodology. While the PEER-A-MED systemcontains clinically heterogeneous groupings, the groupings are notepisode-based and recurrent episodes cannot be accounted.

[0018] Ambulatory Care Groups (ACG) provides a patient-based system thatuses the patient and the analysis unit. Patients are assigned to andiagnosis group and an entire year's claims are bucketed into thirty-onediagnosis groups. By pre-defining the diagnosis groups, this is abucketing-type system and claim management by medical episode does notoccur. The system determines if a claim is in one of the buckets.Because different diseases could be categorized into the same ACG, thissystem is not clinically homogeneous. An additional problem with ACGs isthat too many diagnosis groups are in each ACG.

[0019] Ambulatory Patient Groups (APGs) are a patient classificationsystem designed to explain the amount and type of resources used in anambulatory visit. Patients in each APG have similar clinicalcharacteristics and similar resource use and cost. Patientcharacteristics should relate to a common organ system or etiology. Theresources used are constant and predictable across the patients withineach APG. This system is an encounter-based system because it looks atonly one of the patient's encounters with the health care system. Thissystem mainly analyzes outpatient hospital visits and does not addressinpatient services.

[0020] The GMIS system uses a bucketing procedure that profiles byclumps of diagnosis codes including 460 diagnostic episode clusters(DECs). The database is client specific and contains a flexible numberand type of analytic data files. This system is episode-based, but itdoes not account for recurrent episodes, so a patient's complete datahistory within a one-year period is analyzed as one pseudo-episode.Signs and symptoms do not cluster to the actual disease state, e.g.abdominal pain and appendicitis are grouped in different clusters. Thissystem does not use CPT-4 codes and does not shift the DEC to accountfor acuity changes during the treatment of a patient.

[0021] Value Health Sciences offers a value profiling system, under thetrademark VALUE PROFILER, which utilizes a DB2 mainframe relationaldatabase with 1,800 groups. The system uses ICD9 and CPT-4 codes, whichare bucket codes. Based on quality and cost-effectiveness of care, thesystem evaluates all claims data to produce case-mix-adjusted profilesof networks, specialties, providers and episodes of illness. Thepseudo-episode building methodology contains clinically pre-defined timeperiods during which claims for a patient are associated with aparticular condition and designated provider. The automated practicereview system analyzes health care claims to identify and correctaberrant claims in a pre-payment mode (Value Coder) and to profilepractice patterns in a post-payment mode (Value Profiler). This systemdoes not link signs and symptoms and the diagnoses are non-comprehensivebecause the profiling is based on the exclusion of services. No apparentshifting of episodes occurs and the episodes can only exist for a presettime because the windows are not recurrent.

[0022] The medical claim profiling programs described in foregoingpatents and non-patent literature demonstrate that, while conventionalcomputer-implemented health care systems exist, they each suffer fromthe principal disadvantage of not identifying and grouping medicalclaims on an episodic basis or shifting episodic groupings based uponcomplications or co-morbidities. The present computer-implemented healthcare system contains important improvements and advances uponconventional health care systems by identifying concurrent and recurrentepisodes, flagging records, creating new groupings, shifting groupingsfor changed clinical conditions, selecting the most recent claims,resetting windows, making a determination if the provider is anindependent lab and continuing to collect information until an absenceof treatment is detected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0023] Accordingly, it is a broad aspect of the present invention toprovide a computer-implemented medical claims profiling system.

[0024] It is a further object of the present invention to provide amedical claims profiling system that allows an objective means formeasuring and quantifying health care services.

[0025] It is a further object of the present invention to provide amedical claims profiling system that includes a patient classificationsystem based upon episode treatment groups.

[0026] It is a further object of the present invention to provide amedical claims profiling system that groups claims to clinicallyhomogeneous and statistically stable episode treatment groups.

[0027] It is a further object of the present invention to provide amedical claims profiling system that includes claims grouping utilizingservice or segment-level claim data as input data.

[0028] It is a further object of the present invention to provide amedical claims profiling system that assigns each claim to anappropriate episode.

[0029] It is a further object of the present invention to provide amedical claims profiling system that identifies concurrent and recurrentepisodes.

[0030] It is a further object of the present invention to provide amedical claims profiling system that shifts groupings for changedclinical conditions.

[0031] It is a further object of the present invention to provide amedical claims profiling system that employs a decisional tree to assignclaims to the most relevant episode treatment group.

[0032] It is a further object of the present invention to provide amedical claims profiling system that resets windows of time based uponcomplications, co-morbidities or increased severity of clinicalconditions.

[0033] It is a further object of the present invention to provide ahealth care system that continues to collect claim information andassign claim information to an episode treatment group until an absenceof treatment is detected.

[0034] It is a further object of the present invention to provide ahealth care system that creates orphan records.

[0035] It is a further object of the present invention to provide ahealth care system that creates phantom records.

[0036] The foregoing objectives are met by the present system thatallows an objective means for measuring and quantifying health careservices based upon episode treatment groups (ETGs). An episodetreatment group (ETG) is a clinically homogenous and statisticallystable group of similar illness etiology and therapeutic treatment. ETGgrouper method uses service or segment-level claim data as input dataand assigns each service to the appropriate episode.

[0037] ETGs gather all in-patient, ambulatory and ancillary claims intomutually exclusive treatment episodes, regardless of treatment duration,then use clinical algorithms to identify both concurrent and recurrentepisodes. ETG grouper method continues to collect information until anabsence of treatment is detected for a predetermined period of timecommensurate with the episode. For example, a bronchitis episode willhave a sixty-day window, while a myocardial infarction may have aone-year window. Subsequent records of the same nature within the windowreset the window for an additional period of time until the patient isasymptomatic for the pre-determined time period.

[0038] ETGs can identify a change in the patient's condition and shiftthe patients episode from the initially defined ETG to the ETG thatincludes the change in condition. ETGs identify all providers treating asingle illness episode, allowing the user to uncover specific treatmentpatterns. After adjusting for case-mix, ETGs measure and compare thefinancial and clinical performance of individual providers or entirenetworks.

[0039] Medical claim data is input as data records by data entry into acomputer storage device, such as a hard disk drive. The inventivemedical claims profiling system may reside in any of a number ofcomputer system architectures, i.e., it may be run from a stand-alonecomputer or exist in a client-server system, for example a local areanetwork (LAN) or wide area network (WAN).

[0040] Once relevant medical claim data is input, claims data isprocessed by loading the computer program into the computer systemmemory. During set-up of the program onto the computer system, thecomputer program will have previously set pointers to the physicallocation of the data files and look-up tables written to the computerstorage device. Upon initialization of the inventive computer program,the user is prompted to enter an identifier for a first patient. Theprogram then checks for open episodes for the identified patient, setsflags to identify the open episodes and closes any episodes based upon apredetermined time duration from date of episode to current date. Afterall open episodes for a patient are identified, the new claims datarecords are read to memory and validated for type of provider, CPT codeand ICD-9 (dx) code, then identified as a management, surgery, facility,ancillary, drug or other record.

[0041] As used herein, “Management records” are defined as claims thatrepresent a service by a provider engaging in the direct evaluation,management or treatment or a patient. Examples of management recordsinclude office visits and therapeutic services. Management records serveas anchor records because they represent focal points in the patienttreatment as well as for related ancillary services.

[0042] “Ancillary records” are claims which represent services which areincidental to the direct evaluation, management and treatment of thepatient. Examples of ancillary records include X-ray and laboratorytests.

[0043] “Surgery records” are specific surgical claims. Surgery recordsalso serve as anchor records.

[0044] “Facility records” are claims for medical care facility usage.Examples of facility records include hospital room charges or outpatientsurgical room charges.

[0045] “Drug records” are specific for pharmaceutical prescriptionclaims.

[0046] “Other records” are those medical claim records which are notmanagement, surgery, ancillary, facility or drug records.

[0047] Invalid records are flagged and logged to an error output filefor the user. Valid records are then processed by an ETG AssignorSub-routine and, based upon diagnosis code, is either matched toexisting open episodes for the patient or serve to create new episodes.

[0048] Management and surgery records serve as “anchor records.” An“anchor record” is a record which originates a diagnosis or a definitivetreatment for a given medical condition. Management and surgery recordsserve as base reference records for facility, ancillary and drug claimrecords relating to the diagnosis or treatment which is the subject ofthe management or surgery record. Only management and surgery recordscan serve to start a given episode.

[0049] If the record is a management record or a surgery record, thediagnosis code in the claim record is compared with prior related openepisodes in an existing look-up table for a possible ETG match. If morethan one open episode exists, the program selects the most recent openepisode. A positive match signifies that the current episode is relatedto an existing open episode. After the match is determined, the timewindow is reset for an additional period of time corresponding to theepisode. A loop shifts the originally assigned ETG based on theadditional or subsequent diagnoses. If any of the additional orsubsequent diagnoses is a defined co-morbidity diagnosis, the patient'sco-morbidity file updated. If no match between the first diagnosis codeand an open episode is found, a new episode is created.

[0050] Grouping prescription drug records requires two tables, a NDC(National Drug Code) by GDC (Generic Drug Code) table and a GDC by ETGtable. Because the NDC table has approximately 200,000 entries, it hasbeen found impracticable to directly construct an NDC by ETG table. Forthis reason the NDC by GDC table serves as a translation table totranslate NDCs to GDCs and construct a smaller table based upon GDCs.Reading, then from these tables, the NDC code in the claim data recordis read and translated to a GDC code. The program then identifies allvalid ETGs for the GDC codes in the claim data record then matches thosevalid ETGs with active episodes.

[0051] These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from thefollowing more detailed description of the non-limiting preferredembodiment of the invention taken with reference to the accompanyingFigures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0052] Briefly summarized, a preferred embodiment of the invention isdescribed in conjunction with the illustrative disclosure thereof in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

[0053]FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a computer system usedwith the computer-implemented method for analyzing medical claims datain accordance with the present invention.

[0054]FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the general functional stepsof the computer implemented method for analyzing medical claims data inaccordance with the present invention.

[0055]FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an Eligible Record Checkroutine which validates and sorts patient claim data records.

[0056]FIGS. 4A to 4F are flow diagrams illustrating the ManagementRecord Grouping Sub-routine of the ETG Assignor Routine in accordancewith the computer-implemented method of the present invention.

[0057] FIGS. 5A-5D are flow diagrams illustrating a Surgery RecordGrouping Sub-routine of the ETG Assignor Routine in accordance with thecomputer-implemented method of the present invention.

[0058] FIGS. 6A-6E are flow diagrams illustrating a Facility RecordGrouping Sub-routine of the ETG Assignor Routine in accordance with thecomputer-implemented method of the present invention.

[0059] FIGS. 7A-B are flow diagrams illustrating an Ancillary RecordGrouping Sub-routine of the ETG Assignor Routine in accordance with thecomputer-implemented method of the present invention.

[0060] FIGS. 8A-8C are flow diagrams illustrating a Drug Record GroupingSub-routine of the ETG Assignor Routine in accordance with thecomputer-implemented method of the present invention.

[0061]FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating the Episode Definer Routinein accordance with the computer-implemented method of the presentinvention.

[0062]FIG. 10 is diagrammatic timeline illustrating a hypotheticalpatient diagnosis and medical claims history during a one year periodand grouping of claim records as management records and ancillaryrecords with cluster groupings.

[0063]FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of a 1-9 Diagnosis Code(dx) X ETG table illustrating predetermined table values called by theEpisode Definer Routine of the present invention.

[0064]FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic representation of an 1-9 Diagnosis Code9 (dx) X CPT Code table illustrating predetermined table values calledby the Episode Definer Routine of the present invention.

[0065]FIG. 13 is a diagrammatic representation of a National Drug Code(NDC) to Generic Drug Code (GDC) conversion table illustratingpredetermined Generic Drug Code values called by the Drug RecordGrouping Sub-routine of the Episode Definer Routine of the presentinvention.

[0066]FIG. 14 is a diagrammatic representation of a Generic Drug Code(GDC) to Episode Treatment Group (ETG) table illustrating predeterminedtable values called by the Drug Record Grouping Sub-routine of theEpisode Definer Routine of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0067] Referring particularly to the accompanying drawings, the basicstructural elements of a health care management system of the presentinvention are shown. Health care management system consists generally ofa computer system 10. Computer system 10 is capable of running acomputer program 12 that incorporates the inventive method is shown inFIG. 1. The computer system 10 includes a central processing unit (CPU)14 connected to a keyboard 16 which allows the user to input commandsand data into the CPU 14. It will be understood by those skilled in theart that CPU 14 includes a microprocessor, random access memory (RAM),video display controller boards and at least one storage means, such asa hard disk drive or CD-ROM. The computer system 10 also contains avideo display 18 which displays video images to a person using thecomputer system 10. The video display screen 18 is capable of displayingvideo output in the form of text or other video images.

[0068] Episode Treatment Groups (ETGs) are used to define the basicanalytical unit in the computer-implemented method of the presentinvention. ETGs are episode based and conceptually similar to DiagnosticRelated Groups (DRGs), with a principal difference being that DRGs areinpatient only. ETGs encompass both inpatient and outpatient treatment.

[0069] Using ETGs as the basic episodic definer permits the presentinvention to track concurrently and recurrently occurring illnesses andcorrectly identify and assign each service event to the appropriateepisode. Additionally, ETGs account for changes in a patient's conditionduring a course of treatment by shifting from the initially defined ETGto one which includes the changed condition once the changed conditionis identified.

[0070] The inventive medical claims profiling system defines EpisodeTreatment Groups (ETGs). The number of ETGs may vary, depending upon thedefinitional specificity the health care management organizationdesires. Presently, the inventive system defines 558 ETGs, which areassigned ETG Numbers 1-900 distributed across the following medicalareas: Infectious Diseases, Endocrinology, Hematology, Psychiatry,Chemical Dependency, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology,Otolaryngology, Pulmonology, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Nephrology,Obstetrics, Gynecology, Dermatology, Orthopedics and Rheumatology,Neonatology, Preventative and Administrative and Signs and IsolatedSigns, Symptoms and Non-Specific Diagnoses or Conditions. Under thepresently existing system, ETG 900 is reserved to “Isolated Signs,Symptoms and Non-Specific Diagnoses or Conditions,” and is an ETGdesignation used where the diagnosis code is incapable of being assignedto another ETG. A listing of exemplary ETGs for typical episodes isfound at Table 1, below. Those skilled in the art will understand,however, that the number of ETGs may change, the ETG numbering system isvariable, the ETG classifications may be defined with relatively broaderor narrower degrees of specificity and the range of medical specialtiesmay be greater or fewer, as required may be require by the managementorganization in their medical claims data analysis protocols.

[0071] An episode may be considered a low outlier or high outlier. Lowoutliers are episodes with dollar values below the minimum amount whichis specific to each ETG. Examples of low outliers include patients whichdrop from a plan during mid-episode and patients who use out-of-networkproviders and do not submit claims. High outliers are those episodeswith high dollar values greater than the 75th percentile plus 2.5 timesthe interquartile range, based upon a predefined database. The low andhigh outlier points are pre-determined and hard-coded into the inventivesystem and will vary across analysis periods.

[0072] If no ICD-9 (diagnosis code) on a given record matches the CPT-4code, i.e., a diagnosis of bronchitis and a CPT of knee x-ray, aninvalid code segment results. The inventive system outputs invalidrecords and discontinues the processing of these records. An invalidICD-9 code is assigned to ETG 997, an invalid CPT4 code is assigned toETG 996 and an invalid provider type is assigned to ETG 995. Asequential anchor count and a sequential episode count are incrementedafter each ETG assignment. Active open and closed ETG files include ETGnumber, sequential episode number, most recent anchor from date ofservice and most recent sequential anchor record count. An alternativeembodiment creates a single record for each individual episodecontaining ETG number, patient age, patient sex, episode number, totalcharges, total payments, earlier anchor record, last anchor record,whether the episode was closed (“clean finish”), number of days betweendatabase start date and earliest anchor record, whether a number of daysbetween database start date and earliest anchor record exceeds the ETG'sdays interval, patient identification, physician identification,management charges, management paid, surgery charges, surgery paid,ancillary charges and ancillary paid.

[0073] The inventive system uses clinical algorithms to identify bothconcurrent and recurrent episodes. Subsequent episodes of the samenature within a window reset the window for an additional period of timeuntil the patient is asymptomatic for a pre-determined time period. Ifan ETG matches a prior ETG, a recurrent ETG is created and the window isreset. The most recent claim is selected if more than one matched claimexists. If the ETG does not match an active ETG, a new concurrent ETG iscreated.

[0074] Comorbidities, complications or a defining surgery could requirean update of the patient's condition to an ETG requiring a moreaggressive treatment profile. ETG's changes in the patient's clinicalcondition and shift the patient's episode from the initially defined ETGto an ETG which includes the change in clinical condition.

[0075] If the claim is an ancillary record and it does not match anactive ETG it is designated an “orphan” ancillary record.

[0076] Termination of an episode is detected by an absence of treatmentfor a period of time commensurate with the episode.

[0077] If the claim is a prescription drug record, two pre-definedtables written to the computer data storage medium, are read. The firstof the tables is a National Drug Code (NDC) by Generic Drug Code (GDC)table. The GDC code is equivalent to the Generic Drug Code table knownin the art. This table acts as a translator table to translate a largenumber of NDCs to a smaller set of GCNs. A second pre-defined table isemployed and is constructed as a GDC by ETG table. The GDC by ETG tableis used, in conjunction with the NDC by GDC translator table, toidentify all valid ETGs for a particular NDC code in the claim record.

[0078] To determine specific treatment patterns and performancecontributions, the computer-implemented method identifies all providerstreating a single illness episode. If a network of providers containsPrimary Care Physicians (PC P), the ETGs clearly identify each treatmentepisode by PCP. Financial and clinical performance of individualproviders or entire networks may be monitored and analyzed. To monitorhealth care cost management abilities of providers, components of aprovider's treatment plan may be analyzed by uncovering casemix-adjusteddifferences in direct patient management, the use of surgery and theprescribing of ancillary services. By identifying excessive utilizationand cost areas, continuous quality improvement protocols are readilyengineered based on internally or externally derived benchmarks. Afteradjusting for location and using geographically derived normative chargeinformation, ETG-based analysis compares the cost performance ofproviders or entire networks. By using geographically derivedutilization norms, the present invention forms the methodology base formeasuring both prevalence and incidence rates among a given populationby quantifying health care demand in one population and comparing it toexternal utilization norms. This comparison helps to identify healthcare providers who practice outside established utilization or costnorms.

[0079] Turning now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated the general operationof the computer-implemented method of the present invention. Thoseskilled in the art will understand that the present invention is firstread from a removable, transportable recordable medium, such as a floppydisk, magnetic tape or a CD-ROM onto a recordable, read-write medium,such as a hard disk drive, resident in the CPU 14. Upon a user's entryof appropriate initialization commands entered via the keyboard 16, orother input device, such as a mouse or trackball device, computer objectcode is read from the hard disk drive into the memory of the CPU 14 andthe computer-implemented method is initiated. The computer-implementedmethod prompts the user by displaying appropriate prompts on display 18,for data input by the user.

[0080] Those familiar with medical claims information processing willunderstand that medical claims information is typically received by amanagement service organization on paper forms. If this is the case, auser first manually sorts claim records by patient, then input patientdata through interfacing with the CPU 14 through the keyboard 16 orother input device.

[0081] Prior to being submitted to the grouping algorithm, records mustbe sorted by patient by chronological date of service. An EligibleRecord Check routine 48 to verify the validity and completeness of theinput data. As each record is read by the software, it first checks thedate of service on the record and compares it to the last service dateof all active episodes to evaluate which episodes have expired in termsof an absence of treatment. These episodes are closed at step 50. Nextthe record is identified as either a management 52, surgery 54, facility56, ancillary 58 or drug 60 record. These types of records arecategorized as follows:

[0082] “Management records” are defined as claims which represent aservice by a provider engaging in the direct evaluation, management ortreatment or a patient. Examples of management records include officevisits, surgeries and therapeutic services. Management records serve asanchor records because they represent focal points in the patienttreatment as well as for related ancillary services.

[0083] “Ancillary records” are claims which represent services which areincidental to the direct evaluation, management and treatment of thepatient. Examples of ancillary records include X-ray and laboratorytests.

[0084] “Surgery records” represent surgical procedures performed byphysicians and other like medical allied personnel. Like managementrecords, surgery records also serve as anchor records.

[0085] “Facility records” are claims for medical care facility usage.Examples of facility records include hospital room charges or ambulatorysurgery room charges.

[0086] “Drug records” are specific for pharmaceutical prescriptionclaims.

[0087] A “cluster” is a grouping of one, and only one, anchor record,management or surgery, and possibly ancillary, facility and/or drugrecords. A cluster represents a group of services in which the focalpoint, and therefore the responsible medical personnel, is the anchorrecord. An episode is made up of one or more clusters.

[0088] After the management, surgery, facility, ancillary and drugrecords are identified at steps 52, 54, 56, 58 and 60, respectively, anETG Assignor Sub-routine is executed at step 62. The ETG AssignorSub-routine 62 assigns patient medical claims to ETGs based one or morecluster of services related to the same episode, and provides for ETGshifting upon encountering a diagnosis code or CPT code which alters therelationship between the diagnosis or treatment coded in the claimrecord and an existing ETG assignment. For example, ETG's may be shiftedto account for changes in clinical severity, for a more aggressive ETGtreatment profile if a complication or comorbidity is encountered duringthe course of treatment for a given ETG or where a defining surgery isencountered during the course of treatment for a given ETG.

[0089] When the last claim data record for a given patient is processedby the ETG Assignor Routine 62, the Episode Definer Routine is executedat step 64. Episode Definer Routine 64 identifies all open and closedETG episodes for the patient and appropriately shifts any episodes to adifferent ETG if such ETG is defined by age and/or the presence orabsence of a co-morbidity. The patient records are then output to a filewith each record containing the ETG number, a sequential episode number,and a sequential cluster number. Upon input of an identifier for thenext patient, the processing of medical claims for the next patient isinitiated at step 66 by looping back to check for eligible records forthe new patient at step 48.

[0090] Operation of the Eligible Record Check routine 100 is illustratedin FIG. 3. The patient records input by the user are read from therecordable read-write data storage medium into the CPU 14 memory in step102. From the patient records read to memory in step 102, a recordvalidation step 104 is carried out to check provider type, treatmentcode and diagnosis code against pre-determined CPT code and diagnosis,code look up tables. The diagnosis code is preferably the industrystandard ICD-9 code and the treatment code is preferably the industrystandard CPT-4 code. All valid patient records are assigned as one of a)management record, b) ancillary record, c) surgery record, d) facilityrecord, e) drug record or f) other record, and coded as follows:

[0091] m=management record;

[0092] a=ancillary record;

[0093] s=surgery record;

[0094] f=facility record;

[0095] d=drug record; or

[0096] o=other record.

[0097] A sort of valid records 106 and invalid records 108 from step 104is made. For valid records 106 in step 110, patient age is then read tomemory from the first patient record from step 106. All valid recordsare then sorted by record type in step 112, i.e., record type m, a, s,f, d or o by a date of service from date (DOS-from). A sort index of allrecord-type sorted records from step 116 is generated and written to thehard disk, and the ETG Assignor routine 120 is initialized.

[0098] For invalid records 108 identified at step 104, the records areassigned ETG designations reserved for records having invalid providerdata, invalid treatment code, or invalid diagnosis code, e.g., ETG 995,996 and 997, respectively, at step 111. An error log file is outputidentifying the invalid records by reserved ETG and written to disk ordisplayed for the user and processing of the invalid records terminatesat step 113.

[0099] The computer-implemented method of the present invention theninitializes an Episode Assignor Routine 200, the operation of which isillustrated in FIGS. 4A-8C. Episode Assignor Routine 200 consistsgenerally of five Sub-routine modules for processing management records,surgery records, facility records, ancillary records and drug recordsand assigning claims to proper ETGs. FIGS. 4A-4F illustrate initialidentification of records as management, surgery, facility ancillary anddrug records and the Management Record Grouping Sub-Routine. FIGS. 5A-5Eillustrate operation of the Surgery Record Grouping routine 400 formatching surgery claim records to proper ETGs. FIGS. 6A-6E illustrateoperation of the Facility Record Grouping routine 500 for matchingfacilities records to proper ETGs. FIGS. 7A-7 illustrate operation ofthe Ancillary Record Grouping routine 600 for matching ancillary recordsto proper ETGs. Finally, FIGS. 8A-8C illustrate operation of the DrugRecords Grouping routine 700 for matching drug records to proper ETGs.

[0100] Management Records

[0101] The Episode Assignor routine begins by executing a ManagementRecords Grouping Sub-routine 200, illustrated in FIGS. 4A-4F, firstreads the input claim record for a given patient in step 202. The firstprocessing of the input claim record entails categorizing the record asa management, surgery, facility, ancillary or drug record at step 204. Aseries of logical operands 208, 210, 212 and 214, read the record anddetermine whether the record is a management record at step 204, asurgery record at step 208, a facility record at step 210, an ancillaryrecord at step 212 or a drug record at step 214. If an affirmativeresponse is returned in response to logical operand 204, grouping of themanagement record to an ETG is initialized and processing of themanagement record proceeds to step 215. If, however, a negative responseis returned in response to the logical operand 206, logical operand 208is executed to determine whether the record is a surgery record. If anaffirmative response is returned from logical operand 208, the SurgeryRecord Grouping routine 400 is initialized. If, however, a negativeresponse to logical operand 208 is returned, logical operand 210 isexecuted to determine whether the record is a facility record. If anaffirmative response is returned in response to logical operand 210, theFacility Record Grouping Sub-routine 500 is executed. If, however, anegative response is returned in response to the logical operand 210,logical operand 212 is executed to determine whether the record is anancillary record. If an affirmative response is returned from logicaloperand 212, the Ancillary Record Grouping Sub-routine 600 is executed.If, however, a negative response to logical operand 212 is returned,logical operand 214 is executed to determine whether the record is afacility record. At this point all records except drug records have beenselected. Thus, all the remaining records are drug records and the DrugRecord Grouping Sub-routine 700 is executed.

[0102] Returning now to the initialization of the Management RecordGrouping routine 200, and in particular to step 215. Once the record hasbeen categorized as a management record in step 206, the DOS-to value iscompared to active episodes for the patient to determine if any activeepisodes should be closed. Closed episodes are moved to an archivecreated on the storage means, such as a hard disk or CD-ROM.

[0103] The management record is examined and the first diagnosis code onrecord is read, a diagnosis code (dx) by ETG table 201 is read from thestorage means and all valid ETGs for the first diagnosis code on recordare identified at step 216. The dx by ETG table 201 consists of a tablematrix having diagnosis codes on a first table axis and ETG numbers on asecond table axis. At intersection cells of the dx by ETG table areprovided table values which serve as operational flags for the inventivemethod. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, dxby ETG table values are assigned as follows:

[0104] P=primary, with only one P value existing per ETG;

[0105] S=shift;

[0106] I=incidental;

[0107] A=shift to ETG with C value; and

[0108] C=P, where P′ is a shiftable primary value. An illustrativeexample of a section of a dx by ETG table is found at FIG. 11.

[0109] ETG validation in step 216 occurs where for a given diagnosiscode on record, the code has either a P, S, I, A or C dx-ETG tablevalue. The ETGs identified as valid for the first diagnosis code onrecord in step 216, are then matched with active open ETGs in step 217by comparing the valid ETGs with the open ETGs identified in step 215. Alogical operand is then executed at step 218 to determine whether amatch exists between the valid ETG from the management record and anyopen ETGs. A negative response at step 218 causes execution of anotherlogical operand at step 220 to determine whether for the first diagnosiscode is the P value in the dx-ETG table equal to the ETG fornon-specific diagnosis, i.e., ETG 900. If an affirmative response isreturned at step 216, ETG identifiers for the second to the fourthdiagnosis codes in the management record are established from the dx-ETGtable and the ETG identifier value is matched to active specific ETGs instep 222 and execution of the program continues as represented bydesignator AA 236 bridging to FIG. 5B. If, however, a negative responseis returned from logical operand 220, a value of one is added to themanagement record or anchor count and to the episode count and the ETGwith a P value on the dx-ETG table is selected and a new episode isinitialized. Further processing of the new episode by the programcontinues as represented by designator F 236 bridging to FIG. 5C.

[0110] If an affirmative response is returned at logical operand step218, the matched active ETG with the most recent DOS-to are selected atstep 230. If a tie is found based upon most recent DOS-to values, thenthe most recent DOS-from value is selected for matching with activeETGs. If a tie is found at most recent DOS-from values is found, thefirst encountered ETG is selected and matched. A value of one is thenadded to the management record or anchor record counter at step 232 andfurther processing continues as represented by designator G 238 bridgingto FIG. 5C.

[0111] Turning now to FIG. 4B, which is a continuation from designatorAA 236 of FIG. 4A, identifier ETGs for the second to fourth diagnoses inthe management record are matched to active ETGs in logical operand 237.If an affirmative response is returned in response to logical operand237, the matched active ETG with the most recent DOS-to is selected instep 240. If there is a tie between two or more ETGs with the mostrecent DOS-to value, the most recent DOS-from ETG is selected. If,however, there is a tie between two or more active ETGs with the mostrecent DOS-from value, then the first encountered ETG is selected instep 240. A value of one is then added to the sequential anchor recordcounter in step 241 and operation of the computer-implemented methodcontinues as indicated by designator G 243 bridging to FIG. 5C.

[0112] From logical step 237, if a negative response is returned, theETG with the second diagnosis value of P is selected at step 242, then alogical query is made to determine whether the selected ETG is anon-specific ETG, i.e., ETG 900 at step 244. A negative response tological query 244 causes a value of one to be added to the sequentialanchor count and to the sequential episode count at step 254. If anaffirmative response to logical query 244 is returned, logical queries246 and 248 are sequentially executed to select ETGs with the third andfourth diagnosis values of P from the dx-ETG table written on thestorage means, respectively, and logical query 244 is executed todetermine whether the selected ETG is the non-specific ETG, i.e., ETG900. If a negative response is returned to logical query 244 for the ETGselected in step 248, a value of one is added to the sequential anchorcount and to the sequential episode count in step 254. If an affirmativeresponse is returned from logical query 244, a value of one is added tothe sequential anchor count and the sequential episode count at step250.

[0113] From step 250, the non-specific ETG, i.e., ETG 900 is selectedand a new episode is started in the active ETG file. The updatedsequential episode number, the updated sequential anchor count, theDOS-from and the DOS-to from the record are written to the new episodein the active ETG file in step 252.

[0114] From step 254, the ETG with a dx-ETG table value of P is selectedand a new episode is started in the active ETG file. The updatedsequential episode number, the updated sequential anchor count, theDOS-from and the DOS-to from the record are written to the new episodein the active ETG file in step 256. A comorbidity file written on thestorage means is then updated with all the dx codes in the managementrecord in step 258. From each of steps 252 and steps 258 a check is madeto determine whether the processed management record is the last recordfor the patient at logical step 260. An affirmative response returned tological step 260 prompts the program operation to the Episode DefinerSub-routine 264, bridging to FIG. 9 with identifier GG, while a negativeresponse to logical step 260 returns program operation to the beginningof the ETG Assignor routine 200 and the next patient record is read atstep 262.

[0115] Turning now to FIG. 4C, the bridge reference G 238 is continuedfrom FIG. 4A. For those records having a match with an open ETG, a queryis made at step 270 of the dx-ETG table 201 to determine the table valueof the dx code for the selected ETG. Again, valid table values are oneof P, S, I, A, or C. If the table value returned from step 270 is A, theselected ETG in the active file is changed at step 272 to the ETG numberhaving an equivalent table value of C for the diagnosis on record. Ifthe table value returned from step 270 is S, the selected ETG in theactive file is shifted at step 274 to an ETG value having a table valueof P for the diagnosis code on record. If the table value is one of P, Ior C, the ETG remains the same and the selected active ETG's most recentDOS-to is updated by writing the record date to the ETG DOS-to field,and the sequential anchor count in the selected active ETG is updated toreflect writing of the record to the ETG at step 276.

[0116] At step 278, the record is then written with a sequential episodenumber and the sequential anchor count of the selected ETG from theselected active ETG. In this manner, the record is identified with theETG and the specific episode. The patient's co-morbidity file is flaggedwith the output read from bridge designator F at step 234. A patient'scomorbidity file is a predefined list of diagnoses which have beenidentified as comorbidities. If during the course of grouping apatient's records, a management record is encountered which is acomorbidity diagnosis, the ETG for that diagnosis is flagged or “turnedon” in the comorbidity file. Then, during the execution of the EpisodeDefiner Routine, all the patient's episodes with an ETG which can shiftbased on the presence of a comorbidity and which are “turned on” areappropriately shifted to the ETG “with comorbidity”.

[0117] A loop beginning at step 282 is then executed to determinewhether the ETG assigned by the first diagnosis code should be shiftedto another ETG based upon the second, third and fourth diagnoses onrecord. At step 282, the second diagnosis is read from the patient'sclaim record and all valid ETGs for the second diagnosis are read fromthe dx-ETG table 201. A logical operand 284 is executed to determinewhether one of the valid ETGs for the second diagnosis matches theprimary diagnosis ETG. If a negative response is returned to logicaloperand 284, a loop back at step 285 is executed to step 282 for thenext sequential diagnosis code on record, i.e., the third and forthdiagnosis codes on record. If an affirmative response is returned to thelogical operand 284, the a logical operand 286 queries the table valueof the matched ETG to determine if a value of A is returned from thedx-ETG table. If a negative response is returned, the loop back step 285is initialized. If an affirmative response is returned, the first dx ETGis flagged for change to a second dx ETG having an equivalent tablevalue of C for the second diagnosis code on record at step 288 and allvalid ETGs for the current diagnosis code on record are identified atstep 290 from the dx-ETG table. The identified C-value ETG is thenmatched with any open active ETGs at step 292. Program operation thencontinues at bridge H 292 to FIG. 4D.

[0118] At FIG. 4D the continued operation of the Management GroupingSub-routine from bridge H 292 of FIG. 4C. Logical operand 296 queriesthe open active ETGs to determine whether a valid match with theidentified C-value ETG exists. If a negative response is returned tological operand 296, a value of 1 is added to the sequential episodecount at step 297 and a new episode having a P value ETG is started inthe patient's master active ETG file at step 299. The new episode iswritten with a sequential episode number, DOS-from and DOS-to values andforms a phantom management record. A phantom record is an anchor record,management or surgery, with more than one diagnosis, which is assignedto one episode and its corresponding ETG based on one diagnosis, but canstart a new episode(s) or update the most recent date of another activeepisode(s) based on other diagnoses on the record.

[0119] If an affirmative response is returned from logical operand 296,the matched active ETG with the most recent DOS-to value is selected atstep 298. If a tie is found based upon most recent DOS-to values, thenthe most recent DOS-from value is selected for matching with activeETGs. If a tie is found at most recent DOS-from values is found, thefirst encountered ETG is selected and matched. The selected ETG's mostrecent DOS-to and sequential anchor count are updated in the patient'smaster active ETG file in step 300.

[0120] For either the new episode created at step 299 or the updated ETGfrom step 300, the patient's co-morbidity file is then updated with thesecond diagnosis code on-record at step 302. Processing then continuesto identify all valid ETGs for a third diagnosis code on record at step304 and the identified valid ETGs from step 304 are compared to theactive ETGs in the patient's master active ETG file in step 306.

[0121] Bridge I 308 continues to FIG. 4E, and a logical operand 310 isexecuted to query the patient's master active ETG file to determinewhether a match exists between the valid ETGs identified in step 304with any active ETG from the patients master active ETG file. If anegative response is returned to logical operand 310, a value of 1 isadded to the sequential episode count at step 311 and a new episodehaving a P value ETG is started in the patient's master active ETG fileat step 313. The new episode is written with a sequential episodenumber, DOS-from and DOS-to values and forms a phantom managementrecord.

[0122] If an affirmative response is returned from logical operand 310,the matched active ETG with the most recent DOS-to value is selected atstep 312. Again a decisional hierarchy is executed. If a tie is foundbased upon most recent DOS-to values, then the most recent DOS-fromvalue is selected for matching with active ETGs. If a tie is found atmost recent DOS-from values is found, the first encountered ETG isselected and matched. The selected ETG's most recent DOS-to andsequential anchor count are updated in the patient's master active ETGfile in step 314.

[0123] For either the new episode created at step 311 or the updated ETGfrom step 314, the patient's co-morbidity file is then updated with thethird diagnosis code on-record at step 316. Processing then continues toidentify all valid ETGs for a fourth diagnosis code on record at step318 and the identified valid ETGs from step 3318 are compared to theactive ETGs in the patient's master active ETG file in step 320. Bridgereference I 322, bridges to FIG. 4F.

[0124] Turning to FIG. 4F, a logical operand 324 is executed to querythe patient's master active ETG file to determine whether a match existsbetween the valid ETGs identified in step 320 with any active ETG fromthe patients master active ETG file. If a negative response is returnedto logical operand 324, a value of 1 is added to the sequential episodecount at step 325 and a new episode having a P value ETG is started inthe patient's master active ETG file at step 337. The new episode iswritten with a sequential episode number, DOS-from and DOS-to values andforms a phantom management record.

[0125] If an affirmative response is returned from logical operand 324,the matched active ETG with the most recent DOS-to value is selected atstep 326. Again a decisional hierarchy is executed. If a tie is foundbased upon most recent DOS-to values, then the most recent DOS-fromvalue is selected for matching with active ETGs. If a tie is found atmost recent DOS-from values is found, the first encountered ETG isselected and matched. The selected ETG's most recent DOS-to andsequential anchor count are updated in the patient's master active ETGfile in step 328.

[0126] For either the new episode created at step 337 or the updated ETGfrom step 324, the patient's co-morbidity file is then updated with thefourth diagnosis code on-record at step 330. A check is then made todetermine whether the processed record is the last record for thepatient by execution of logical operand 332 and reading the input claimrecords from the storage means. If logical operand 332 returns anaffirmative value, the ETG Definer Sub-routine is called at step 334, asrepresented by bridge reference GG. If, however, a negative response isreturned to logical operand 332, program execution returns to the step204 of the Episode Assignor routine 200 and the next patient claimrecord is read from the storage means. Surgery Records

[0127] Grouping of Surgery Records to ETGs is governed by the SurgeryRecord Grouping Sub-routine 400, the operation of which is illustratedin FIGS. 5A-5D.

[0128] For those patient claim records identified as Surgery Records atstep 208, the DOS-from value on-record is compared with the DOS-to valueread from the patient master active ETG file at step 402. Thisidentifies and flags those active ETGs which are to be closed, theflagged ETGs are then moved to the patient master closed ETG file. Thefirst diagnosis code on-record is then read and compared to the dx-ETGtable 201 to identify all possible valid ETGs for the first diagnosiscode on-record in step 404.

[0129] Surgery records are coded with treatment codes (CPT codes). Eachsurgery record has a single CPT code value. The CPT code on-record isthen read, and compared to a CPT by ETG table 401 previously written tothe storage means. The CPT-ETG table will have pre-determined tablevalues. For example, in accordance with the preferred embodiment of theinvention, the CPT-ETG table 401 has table values of R, W and X, where Ris a value shiftable to W and X is a validator value. All valid ETGs forthe on-record CPT code are identified by this comparison at step 406. Alogical operand 408 is then executed to determine whether there is amatch of valid ETGs returned from the dx-ETG table 201 and the CPT-ETGtable 401. If an affirmative response is returned to logical operand408, a second logical operand 410 is executed to determine whether amatch of valid specific ETGs exists. Again, if an affirmative responseis returned from second logical operand 410, the valid specific ETGsmatched in step 410 are then compared at step 414 with the open activeETGs for the patient read from the patient's master active ETG file atstep 412. If an affirmative response is returned from step 414, thematched ETG with the most recent DOS-to is selected at step 416 and avalue of 1 is added to the sequential anchor count in the selected ETGat step 418. In step 416, if a tie is found based upon most recentDOS-to values, then a decisional hierarchy is followed to select themost recent DOS-from value for matching with active ETGs. If a tie isfound at most recent DOS-from values is found, the first encountered ETGis selected and matched.

[0130] If a negative response is returned to any of logical operands408, 410 or 414, second, third and fourth dx codes on-record are readand all possible valid ETGs are read in step 411 from the dx-ETG table201. Further processing of the valid ETGs output from step 411 iscontinued at FIG. 5B identified by bridge reference P, 413.

[0131] Turning to FIG. 5B, a logical operand 415 compares the valid ETGsfor the second, third and fourth dx codes with the valid ETGs for theCPT code on-record in step 411. If a negative response is returned fromlogical operand 415, the patient claim record is assigned to an ETGreserved for match errors between dx code and CPT code, e.g., ETG 998,and further processing of the match error ETG bridges at reference R,431, to FIG. 5D.

[0132] If an affirmative response is returned from logical operand 415,the matched ETGs are compared with active ETGs read from the patientmaster active ETG file at step 417 and logical operand 419 is executedat step 419 to determine whether any valid matches between matched ETGsand active ETGs. If a negative response is returned to logical operand419, a value of 1 is added to the sequential anchor count and to thesequential episode count at step 425 and a new episode is started atstep 437 with the first dx code on-record having a P value for aspecific ETG in the dx-ETG table 201. If no specific ETG has a P value,a non-specific ETG having a P value for the dx code on record is used tostart the new episode. The new episode is started by writing thesequential episode number, the sequential anchor count, the DOS-from andthe DOS-to values on the record.

[0133] If an affirmative response is returned from logical operand 419,the matched specific ETG with the most recent DOS-to is selected at step421. If a tie is found based upon most recent DOS-to values, then themost recent DOS-from value is selected for matching with active ETGs. Ifa tie is found at most recent DOS-from values is found, the firstencountered ETG is selected and matched. A value of 1 is added to thesequential anchor count at step 423. Processing the new episode startedat step 427 or of the selected matched specific ETG at step 421continues to bridge Q, 420, continued at FIG. 5C.

[0134] Turning to FIG. 5C, bridged from reference Q, 420, logicaloperand 422 is executed which reads the CPT-ETG table 401 and determinesthe table value of the selected ETG from step 421 and step 427 based onthe CPT value on-record. If a table value of R is returned from the readof the CPT-ETG table 401 at step 422, the matched ETG in the masteractive ETG file is shifted at step 424 to the ETG with an equivalentvalue of W for the CPT code on-record. If a table value of X or W isreturned from step 422 or from step 242, the dx-ETG table 201 is read atstep 426 and the dx code for the selected matched ETG from the CPT-ETGtable 401 or the shifted ETG from step 424 is read. From the dx-ETGtable 201, if a value of S is returned, the matched ETG in the patientmaster active ETG file is shifted at step 428 to the ETG with a tablevalue of P for the dx code on-record. If a table value of A is returned,the matched ETG in the patient master active ETG file is changed in step430 to an equivalent value of C for the dx code on-record. If a tablevalue of P, I or C is returned either from logical operand 426, or fromthe ETG change step 428 or the ETG shift step 430, the DOS-to and thesequential anchor count of the ETG in the patient master active ETG fileare updated in step 432. The patient claim record is then assigned andwritten with the sequential episode number and the sequential anchorcount of the selected ETG at step 434. The patient co-morbidity file isthen updated with all diagnosis codes on-record at step 436.

[0135]FIG. 5D bridges from FIG. 5C with bridge reference BB, 438. InFIG. 5D, the diagnosis codes on-record which were not used in the ETGselection described above, are then read from the patient claim recordto identify all possible valid ETGs in the dx-ETG table 201. Theidentified possible valid ETGs are then matched against the patientmaster active ETG file in step 442 and logical operand 444 is executedto validate the matches. If an affirmative response is returned tological operand 444, for each matched dx code on-record, the matchedactive ETG with the most recent DOS-to is selected at step 446. If a tieis found based upon most recent DOS-to values, then the most recentDOS-from value is selected for matching with active ETGs. If a tie isfound at most recent DOS-from values is found, the first encountered ETGis selected and matched. The selected ETG's most recent DOS-to value isupdated to the date of the patient medical claim, and the sequentialanchor count in the active ETG is updated in step 448.

[0136] If a negative response is returned to logical operand 444, avalue of 1 is added to sequential episode count at step 456 and a newepisode having a P value ETG is started in the patient's master activeETG file at step 458. The new episode is written with a sequentialepisode number, DOS-from and DOS-to values and forms a phantom surgeryrecord. If an affirmative response is returned to logical operand 444,the matched active ETG for each diagnosis code is selected at step 446on the basis of the most recent DOS-to value. If a tie is found basedupon most recent DOS-to values, then the most recent DOS-from value isselected for matching with active ETGs. If a tie is found at most recentDOS-from values is found, the first encountered ETG is selected andmatched. The DOS-to field of the selected ETG from step 446 is updatedin step 448 to the date of service on-record and the sequential anchorcount in the active ETG file is updated. From either step 458 or fromstep 448, the patient co-morbidity file is updated to reference theselected ETG and a check is made to determine whether the patient claimrecord processed in step 429, which assigned an invalid dx-CPT codematch to the record, or from step 450, which updated the co-morbidityfile, is the last record for the patient at logical operand 462. If anaffirmative response is returned to logical operand 462, recordprocessing proceeds to the Episode Definer Sub-routine at step 464,bridged by reference GG, to FIG. 9. If, however, a negative response isreturned to logical operand 462, a loop back 468 to the beginning of theETG Assigner routine 200 is executed and the next patient claim recordis read.

[0137] Facility Records

[0138] The Facility Record Grouping Sub-routine 500 assigns facilityrecords to ETGs on the basis of diagnosis codes on-record. The patientclaim record is read and the first diagnosis code on-record is read tothe dx-ETG table 201 to identify all valid ETGs for the first dx code atstep 502. The identified valid ETGs are then compared to the open activeETGs in the patient master active ETG file in step 504. Logical operand506 executes to determine whether any valid matches exist betweenidentified ETGs for the dx code and the active ETGs for the patient. Ifa negative response is returned to step 506, a value of 1 is added tothe sequential episode count at step 507 and a new episode is started instep 509 in the patient active ETG file with the ETG corresponding tothe dx-ETG table value of P. If logical operand 507 returns anaffirmative response, a query of the matched ETG value is made at step508 to determine whether the matched ETG has a table value of P, C, A orS. If a negative response is returned to step 508, the matched activeETG with the most recent DOS-.from value is selected at step 511. If atie is found based upon most recent DOS-to values, then the most recentDOS-from value is selected for matching with active ETGs. If a tie isfound at most recent DOS-from values is found, the first encountered ETGis selected and matched. If an affirmative response is returned at step508, the table value of the matched ETG table value is identified atstep 510. If the table value for the matched ETG in the dx-ETG table 201is S, the matched ETG is shifted at step 514 to the ETG having a tablevalue of P for the dx code. If the table value for the matched ETGreturns a value of A, the matched ETG in the patient master active ETGfile is changed at step 512 to an ETG having an equivalent table valueof C for the dx code. If a table value of either P or C is returned atstep 510, the most recent DOS-to is updated at step 516 in the ETG tothe on-record claim date. Further processing of the claim record fromsteps 509, 511 and 516 bridges at reference 1, 520, to FIG. 6B. Turningto FIG. 6B, bridged from reference 1, 520, in FIG. 6A, the patient'sco-morbidity file is updated with the first dx code at step 522. A loopbeginning at step 524 is then executed to determine whether the ETGassigned by the first diagnosis code should be shifted to another ETGbased upon the second, third and fourth diagnoses on record. At step524, the second diagnosis is read from the patient's claim record andall valid ETGs for the second diagnosis are read from the dx-ETG table201. A logical operand 526 is executed to determine whether one of thevalid ETGs for the second diagnosis matches the primary diagnosis ETG.If a negative response is returned to logical operand 526, a loop backat step 527 is executed to step 524 for the next sequential diagnosiscode on record, i.e., the third and forth diagnosis codes on record. Ifan affirmative response is returned to the logical operand 524, thelogical operand 528 queries the table value of the matched ETG todetermine if a value of A is returned from the dx-ETG table. If anegative response is returned, the loop back step 527 is initialized. Ifan affirmative response is returned, the first dx ETG is flagged forchange to a second dx ETG having an equivalent table value of C for thesecond diagnosis code on record at step 530. All valid ETGs for thesecond diagnosis code on record are identified at step 532 from thedx-ETG table. The identified ETGs are then matched with any open activeETGs at step 532. Program operation then continues at bridge 2, 536 toFIG. 6C.

[0139] At FIG. 6C the continued operation of the Facility RecordGrouping Sub-routine 500 from bridge 2 of FIG. 6b is illustrated.Logical operand 538 queries the open active ETGs to determine whether avalid match with the identified ETGs exists. If a negative response isreturned to logical operand 538, the patient co-morbidity file isupdated with the second diagnosis code at step 544. If an affirmativeresponse is returned from logical operand 538, the matched active ETGwith the most recent DOS-to value is selected at step 540. If a tie isfound based upon most recent DOS-to values, then the most recentDOS-from value is selected for matching with active ETGs. If a tie isfound at most recent DOS-from values is found, the first encountered ETGis selected and matched. The selected ETG's most recent DOS-to andsequential anchor count are updated in the patient's master active ETGfile in step 542.

[0140] Processing then continues to identify all valid ETGs for a thirddiagnosis code on record at step 546 and the identified valid ETGs fromstep 546 are compared to the active ETGs in the patient's master activeETG file in step 548.

[0141] Bridge 3, 550, continues to FIG. 6D, and a logical operand 552 isexecuted to query the patient's master active ETG file to determinewhether a match exists between the valid ETGs identified in step 548with any active ETG from the patients master active ETG file. If anegative response is returned to logical operand 538, the patient'scomorbidity file is updated with the third diagnosis code at 558.

[0142] If an affirmative response is returned from logical operand 552,the matched active ETG with the most recent DOS-to value is selected atstep 554. Again a decisional hierarchy is executed. If a tie is foundbased upon most recent DOS-to values, then the most recent DOS-fromvalue is selected for matching with active ETGs. If a tie is found atmost recent DOS-from values is found, the first encountered ETG isselected and matched.

[0143] The patient's co-morbidity file is then updated with the thirddiagnosis code on-record at step 558. Processing then continues toidentity all valid ETGs for a fourth diagnosis code on record at step560 and the identified valid ETGs from step 3318 are compared to theactive ETGs in the patient's master active ETG file in step 562. Bridgereference 4, 564, bridges to FIG. 6D.

[0144] Turning to FIG. 6D, a logical operand 566 is executed to querythe patient's master active ETG file to determine whether a match existsbetween the valid ETGs identified in step 562 with any active ETG fromthe patients master active ETG file. If a negative response is returnedto logical operand 566, the patients comorbidity file is updated withthe fourth diagnosis code.

[0145] If an affirmative response is returned from logical operand 566,the matched active ETG with the most recent DOS-to value is selected atstep 568. In the event of a tie, a decisional hierarchy is executed. Ifa tie is found based upon most recent DOS-to values, then the mostrecent DOS-from value is selected for matching with active ETGs. If atie is found at most recent DOS-from values is found, the firstencountered ETG is selected and matched. The selected ETG's most recentDOS-to are updated in the patient's master active ETG file in step 570and the patient's co-morbidity file is then updated with the fourthdiagnosis code on-record at step 572. A check is then made to determinewhether the processed record is the last record for the patient byexecution of logical operand 574 and reading the input claim recordsfrom the storage means. If logical operand 574 returns an affirmativevalue, the ETG Definer Sub-routine is called at step 576, as representedby bridge reference GG. If, however, a negative response is returned tological operand 574, program execution returns to the step 204 of theEpisode Assignor routine 200 and the next patient claim record is readfrom the storage means at step 578.

[0146] Ancillary Records

[0147] Operation of the Ancillary Record Grouping Sub-routine 600 isillustrated in FIGS. 7A-7B. Like surgery records, ancillary records aregrouped to ETGs on the basis of both dx codes and CPT code on record.First all valid ETGs for the treatment or CPT code on-record areidentified in step 602 from the CPT-ETG table 401. Then all valid ETGsfor the first dx code on record are identified in step 604 from thedx-ETG table 201. The ETGs from the CPT-ETG table 401 are then comparedat step 606 to the ETGs from the dx-ETG table 201 and a logical operand608 determines whether there is an ETG match. An affirmative responsereturned from logical operand 608 continues record processing at bridgeD, 610, which continues on FIG. 7B. A negative response returned fromlogical operand 608 prompts a look up on the dx-ETG table to determineall valid ETGs for the second diagnosis code on record in step 611. Step613 again compares the valid ETGs for the CPT code on record and withthe valid ETGs for the second dx code on record and a logical operand614 is executed to match the second dx code ETG with the CPT code ETG.Again, an affirmative response returned from logical operand 614continues record processing at bridge D, 610, which continues on FIG.7B. If a negative response is returned to logical operand 614, a look upon the dx-ETG table occurs to determine all valid ETGs for the thirddiagnosis code on record in step 615. Step 616 again compares the validETGs for the CPT code on record and with the valid ETGs for the third dxcode on-record, which bridges E, 619, to FIG. 7B for identification ofall valid ETGs for the fourth dx code on-record at step 625.

[0148] Step 627 then compares the valid ETGs for the CPT code on recordand with the valid ETGs for the fourth dx code on record and a logicaloperand 629 is executed to match the fourth dx code ETG with the CPTcode ETG. An affirmative response returned from logical operand 629continues to step 616 which compares the matched ETGs with the ETGs inthe patient master active ETG file and a query is made at logicaloperand 618 to determine whether any valid matches exist. If a negativeresponse is returned to logical operand 629, the record is output to theETG reserved for a CPT code-dx code mismatch at step 631 and a check ismade at step 635 to determine whether the record is the last record forthe patient.

[0149] If a match is found between the matched ETGs from the dx code-CPTcode comparison in step 616. The matched active ETG with the most recentDOS-to value is selected. In the event of a tie, a decisional hierarchyis executed. If a tie is found based upon most recent DOS-to values,then the most recent DOS-from value is selected for matching with activeETGs. If a tie is found at most recent DOS-from values is found, thefirst encountered ETG is selected. The sequential episode number of theselected ETG is assigned to the record and the most recent sequentialanchor count of the episode from the active ETG file is assigned to therecord at step 622.

[0150] If the response to logical operand 618 is negative, the record isassigned to an orphan record ETG at step 633 and maintained in theclaims records until subsequent record processing either matches therecord to an ETG or the orphan record DOS-from exceeds a one-year timeperiod, at which time the record is output to an error log file.

[0151] A check is then made to determine whether this record is the lastrecord for the patient at step 635. If logical operand 635 returns anaffirmative value, the ETG Definer Sub-routine is called at step 642, asrepresented by bridge reference GG. If, however, a negative response isreturned to logical operand 635, program execution returns to the step204 of the Episode Assignor routine 200 and the next patient claimrecord is read from the storage means at step 644.

[0152] Prescription Drug Records

[0153] FIGS. 8A-8C illustrate the operation of the Drug Record GroupingSub-routine 700. Drug Record Grouping Sub-routine 700 references twopredetermined tables previously written to the storage means. The firstof the tables is a National Drug Code (NDC) by Generic Drug Code (GDC)table 800. This table acts as a translator table to translate a largenumber of NDCs to a smaller set of GDCs. A second pre-defined table isemployed and is constructed as a GDC by ETG table 900. The GDC by ETGtable is used, in conjunction with the NDC by GDC translator table, toidentify all valid ETGs for a particular NDC code in the claim record.

[0154] Once identified as a drug record in the initial operation of theEpisode Assignor Routine 200, the drug record is read from storage tomemory in step 702. The NDC code on-record is converted to a GDC code byreading from the NDC-GDC table 800 in step 704. Using the GDC number soidentified, all possible valid ETGs for the GDC code are identified instep 706. The possible valid ETGs for the GDC code are then compared tothe patient master active ETG file in step 708. Following bridge LL,710, to FIG. 8B, a logical operand is executed in step 712 based uponthe comparison executed in step 708, to determine whether a match occurshaving a table value of P, A, C or S.

[0155] If a negative response is returned to logical operand 712, acheck is made to determine whether a match having table value I in theGDC-ETG table 900 exists in step 713. If another negative response isreturned to logical operand 713, the record is flagged an orphan drugrecord and assigned to an orphan drug record ETG in step 715. If anaffirmative response is returned to logical operand 713, the ETG withthe highest second value is selected in step 718 (e.g. I1, I2, I3 and soon). If more than one ETG having the highest second value exists, theETG having the most recent DOS-from value is selected. If a tie is againencountered, the first encountered ETG is selected. A sequential episodenumber and the most recent sequential anchor count of the episode fromthe patient master active ETG file is assigned to the drug record forthe selected ETG in step 720.

[0156] If an affirmative response is returned to logical operand 712,the ETG having the highest second value, in order of P, S, A, C isselected in step 714 (e.g. P1, then P2 . . . then S1, then S2 . . . andso on). The record is then assigned a sequential episode number of theselected ETG and the most recent sequential anchor count of the episodefrom the patient master active ETG file in step 716.

[0157] Further processing of the drug record continues from steps 716,715 and 720 through bridge MM, 724 and is described with reference toFIG. 8C. A check is made in step 726 to determine whether the drugrecord is the last drug record for the patient on the record date. If anegative response is returned, a loop back to the top of the Drug RecordGrouping Sub-routine 700 is executed. If an affirmative response isreturned at step 726, a check is made to determine whether the drugrecord is the last record for the patient in step 728. If logicaloperand 728 returns an affirmative value, the ETG Definer Sub-routine iscalled at step 732, as represented by bridge reference GG. If, however,a negative response is returned to logical operand 728, programexecution returns to the step 204 of the Episode Assignor routine 200and the next patient claim record is read from the storage means at step730.

[0158] The Episode Definer Sub-routine is illustrated with reference toFIG. 9. Episode Definer Routine 118 is employed to assign allnon-specific claims records, i.e., those initially assigned to ETG 900,to specific more appropriate ETGs. Episode Definer routine 750. Once allepisodes have been grouped to ETGs, all ETG episodes in both active andclosed ETGs are then identified in step 752 by patient age and presenceor absence of a comorbidity. The ETG number for each episode is thenshifted and re-written to an ETG appropriate for the patient age and/orpresence or absence of a comorbidity in step 754. All patient recordsare then output in step 756 to the display, to a file or to a printer,along with their shifted ETG number, sequential episode number of therecord and in patient master active and closed ETG file for the patient.The Episode Definer routine 750 then writes a single record at step 758for each episode containing key analytical information, for example: theETG number, patient age, patient sex, the sequential episode number, thetotal sum charges, the total sum paid, the earliest anchor recordDOS-from value, the last anchor record DOS-to value, patientidentification, physician identification, management charges, managementcharges paid, surgery charges, surgery charges paid, ancillary charges,and ancillary charges paid.

[0159] After the single record for each episode is written in step 758for the patient, processing for the next patient begins byinitialization of the next patient master active and closed ETG file,the next patient co-morbidity file, and the patient age file in step 760and the Eligible Record Check Routine is re-initiated for processingclaims records for the next patient at step 762.

EXAMPLE

[0160]FIG. 10 provides an example of Management and Ancillary recordclustering over a hypothetical time line for a single patient over a oneyear period from January, 1995 to December, 1995. FIG. 10 depicts timeframes of occurrences for claims classified as management records, i.e.,office visit 84, hospital or emergency room visit 85, and surgery andsurgical follow-up 86 and for claims records classified as ancillaryrecords, i.e., laboratory tests 87, X-ray and laboratory tests 88 andx-ray 89. Two time lines are provided. A first timeline 71 includes thediagnosis and the time duration of the diagnosed clinical condition. Asecond timeline 72 includes the claim events which gave rise to themedical claims. Where claim events occur more than once, an alphabeticdesignator is added to the reference numeral to denote chronologicalorder of the event. For example, the first office visit is denoted 84 a,the second office visit is denoted 84 b, the third denoted 84 c, etc.Vertical broken lines denote the beginning and end of each EpisodeTreatment Group 90, and facilitate correlation of the episode event,e.g., office visit, with the resulting diagnosis, e.g., bronchitis.

[0161] A first office visit 84 a resulted in a diagnosis of bronchitis76. Office visit 84 a started an episode 90 a for this patient basedupon the bronchitis diagnosis 76. A second office visit 84 b occurredconcurrently with the bronchitis episode 90 a, but resulted in adiagnosis of eye infection 77. Because the eye infection 77 is unrelatedto the open bronchitis episode ETG 90 a, a new eye infection episode ETG90 b is started. An X-ray and lab test 88 was taken during the timeframe of each of the bronchitis episode 90 a and the eye infection 90 b.Based upon the CPT-ETG table, discussed above, the X-ray and lab test 88is assigned to the eye infection episode 90 b. A third office visit 84 cand x-ray 89 a occurred and related to the bronchitis episode 90 arather than the eye infection episode 90 b.

[0162] A fourth office visit 84 d occurred and resulted in a diagnosisof major infection 78 unrelated to the bronchitis diagnosis 76. Becausethe major infection 78 is unrelated to the bronchitis, the fourth officevisit 84 d opened a new ETG 90 c. Two subsequent lab tests 87 a and 87 bwere both assigned to the only open episode, i.e., ETG 90 c.

[0163] A fifth office visit 84 e resulted in a diagnosis of benignbreast neoplasm 79, which is unrelated to the major infection ETG 90 c.A fifth office visit 84 e opened a new ETG 90 d because the benignbreast neoplasm is unrelated to either the bronchitis episode ETG 90 a,the eye infection episode ETG 90 b, or the major infection episode 90 c.Sixth office visit 84 f was assigned then to the only open episode,i.e., ETG 90 d. Similarly, the surgery and follow-up records 86 a and 86b related to the benign neoplasm ETG 90 d and are grouped to that ETG.

[0164] Some months later, the patient has a seventh office visit 84 gwhich resulted in a diagnosis of bronchitis 80. However, because thetime period between the prior bronchitis episode 76 and the currentbronchitis episode 80 exceeds a pre-determined period of time in whichthere was an absence of treatment for bronchitis, the bronchitis episode90 a is closed and the bronchitis episode 90 e is opened. A hospitalrecord 85 occurs as a result of an eye trauma and eye trauma 81 is theresulting diagnosis. Because the eye trauma 85 is unrelated to thebronchitis 80, a new eye trauma ETG 90 f is started which is openconcurrently with the bronchitis ETG 90 e. An eighth office visit 84 hoccurs during the time when both ETG 90 e and ETG 90 f are open. Eighthoffice visit 84 h is, therefore, grouped to the ETG most relevant to theoffice visit 84 h, i.e., ETG 90 e. A subsequent x-ray record 89 b occursand is related to the eye trauma diagnosis and is, therefore, grouped toETG 90 f. Because and absence of treatment has occurred for thebronchitis ETG 90 e, that ETG 90 e is closed.

[0165] Finally, while the eye trauma ETG 90 f is open, the patient has aroutine office visit 84 h which is unrelated to the open ETG 90 f forthe eye trauma diagnosis 91. Because it is unrelated to the open ETG 90f, the routine office visit 84 i starts and groups to a new episode 90 gwhich contains only one management record 84 i. An x-ray record 89 coccurs after and is unrelated to the routine office visit 84 i. The onlyopen episode is the eye trauma episode 90 f and the x-ray record 89 cis, therefore, grouped to the eye trauma episode 90 f. At the end of theyear, all open episodes, i.e., the eye trauma ETG 90 f are closed.

[0166] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art, that theforegoing detailed description of the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention is representative of a type of health care systemwithin the scope and spirit of the present invention. Further, thoseskilled in the art will recognize that various changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of thepresent invention. Those skilled in the art will recognize that theinvention is not limited to the specifics as shown here, but is claimedin any form or modification falling within the scope of the appendedclaims. For that reason, the scope of the present invention is set forthin the following claims. TABLE 1 ETG DESCRIPTION 1 AIDS with majorinfectious complication 2 AIDS with minor infectious complication 3 AIDSwith inflammatory complication 4 AIDS with neoplastic complication, withsurgery 5 AIDS with neoplastic complication, w/o surgery 6 HIVsero-positive without AIDS 7 Major infectious disease except HIV, withcomorbidity 8 Septicemia, w/o comorbidity 9 Major infectious diseaseexcept HIV and septicemia, w/o comorbidity 10 Minor infectious disease11 Infectious disease signs & symptoms 20 Diseases of the thyroid gland,with surgery 21 Hyper-functioning thyroid gland 22 Hypo-functioningthyroid gland 23 Non-toxic goiter 24 Malignant neoplasm of the thyroidgland 25 Benign neoplasm of the thyroid gland 26 Other diseases of thethyroid gland 27 Insulin dependent diabetes, with comorbidity 28 Insulindependent diabetes, w/o comorbidity 29 Non-insulin dependent diabetes,with comorbidity 30 Non-insulin dependent diabetes, w/o comorbidity 31Malignant neoplasm of the pancreatic gland 32 Benign endocrine disordersof the pancreas 33 Malignant neoplasm of the pituitary gland 34 Benignneoplasm of the pituitary gland 35 Hyper-functioning adrenal gland 36Hypo-functioning adrenal gland 37 Malignant neoplasm of the adrenalgland 38 Benign neoplasm of the adrenal gland 39 Hyper-functioningparathyroid gland 40 Hypo-functioning parathyroid gland 41 Malignantneoplasm of the parathyroid gland 42 Benign neoplasm of the parathyroidgland 43 Female sex gland disorders 44 Male sex gland disorders 45Nutritional deficiency 46 Gout 47 Metabolic deficiency except gout 48Other diseases of the endocrine glands or metabolic disorders, withsurgery 49 Other diseases of the endocrine glands or metabolicdisorders, w/o surgery 50 Endocrine disease signs & symptoms 70 Leukemiawith bone marrow transplant 71 Leukemia with splenectomy 72 Leukemia w/osplenectomy 73 Neoplastic disease of blood and lymphatic system exceptleukemia 74 Non-neoplastic blood disease with splenectomy 75Non-neoplastic blood disease, major 76 Non-neoplastic blood disease,minor 77 Hematology signs & symptoms 90 Senile or pre-senile mentalcondition 91 Organic drug or metabolic disorders 92 Autism and childhoodpsychosis 93 Inorganic psychoses except infantile autism 94Neuropsychological & behavioral disorders 95 Personality disorder 96Mental disease signs & symptoms 110 Cocaine or amphetamine dependencewith complications age less than 16 111 Cocaine or amphetaminedependence with complications age 16+ 112 Cocaine or amphetaminedependence w/o complications age less than 16 113 Cocaine or amphetaminedependence w/o complications age 16+ 114 Alcohol dependence withcomplications, age less than 16 115 Alcohol dependence withcomplications, age 16+ 116 Alcohol dependence w/o complications, ageless than 16 117 Alcohol dependence w/o complications, age 16+ 118Opioid and/or barbiturate dependence, age less than 16 119 Opioid and/orbarbiturate dependence, age 16+ 120 Other drug dependence, age less than16 121 Other drug dependence, age 16+ 140 Viral meningitis 141 Bacterialand fungal meningitis 142 Viral encephalitis 143 Non-viral encephalitis144 Parasitic encephalitis 145 Toxic encephalitis 146 Brain abscess,with surgery 147 Brain abscess, w/o surgery 148 Spinal abscess 149Inflammation of the central nervous system, with surgery 150Inflammation of the central nervous system, w/o surgery 151 Epilepsy,with surgery 152 Epilepsy, w/o surgery 153 Malignant neoplasm of thecentral nervous system, with surgery 154 Malignant neoplasm of thecentral nervous system, w/o surgery 155 Benign neoplasm of the centralnervous system, with surgery 156 Benign neoplasm of the central nervoussystem, w/o surgery 157 Cerebral vascular accident, hemorrhagic, withsurgery 158 Cerebral vascular accident, hemorrhagic, w/o surgery 159Cerebral vascular accident, non-hemorrhagic, with surgery 160 Cerebralvascular accident, non-hemorrhagic, w/o surgery 161 Major brain trauma,with surgery 162 Major brain trauma, w/o surgery 163 Minor brain trauma164 Spinal trauma, with surgery 165 Spinal trauma, w/o surgery 166Hereditary and degenerative diseases of the central nervous system, withsurgery 167 Hereditary and degenerative diseases of the central nervoussystem, w/o surgery 168 Migraine headache, non-intractable 169 Migraineheadache, intractable 170 Congenial and other disorders of the centralnervous system, with surgery 171 Congenital and other disorders of thecentral nervous system, w/o surgery 172 Inflammation of the cranialnerves, with surgery 173 Inflammation of the cranial nerves, w/o surgery174 Carpal tunnel syndrome, with surgery 175 Carpal tunnel syndrome, w/osurgery 176 Inflammation of the non-cranial nerves, except carpaltunnel, with surgery 177 Inflammation of the non-cranial nerves, exceptcarpal tunnel, w/o surgery 178 Peripheral nerve neoplasm, with surgery179 Peripheral nerve neoplasm, w/o surgery 180 Traumatic disorder of thecranial nerves, with surgery 181 Traumatic disorder of the cranialnerves, w/o surgery 182 Traumatic disorder of the non-cranial nerves,with surgery 183 Traumatic disorder of the non-cranial nerves, w/osurgery 184 Congenital disorders of the peripheral nerves 185Neurological disease signs & symptoms 200 Internal eye infection withsurgery 201 Internal eye infection w/o surgery 202 External eyeinfection, with surgery 203 External eye infection, exceptconjunctivitis, w/o surgery 204 Conjunctivitis 205 Inflammatory eyedisease, with surgery 206 Inflammatory eye disease, w/o surgery 207Malignant neoplasm of the eye, internal, with surgery 208 Malignantneoplasm of the eye, internal, w/o surgery 209 Malignant neoplasm of theeye, external 210 Benign neoplasm of the eye, internal 211 Benignneoplasm of the eye, external 212 Glaucoma, closed angle with surgery213 Glaucoma, closed angle w/o surgery 214 Glaucoma, open angle, withsurgery 215 Glaucoma, open angle, w/o surgery 216 Cataract, with surgery217 Cataract, w/o surgery 218 Trauma of the eye, with surgery 219 Traumaof the eye, w/o surgery 220 Congenital anomaly of the eye, with surgery221 Congenital anomaly of the eye, w/o surgery 222 Diabetic retinopathy,with surgery 223 Diabetic retinopathy, w/o surgery with comorbidity 224Diabetic retinopathy, w/o surgery w/o comorbidity 225 Non-diabeticvascular retinopathy, with surgery 226 Non-diabetic vascularretinopathy, w/o surgery 227 Other vascular disorders of the eye exceptretinopathies, with surgery 228 Other vascular disorders of the eyeexcept retinopathies, w/o surgery 229 Macular degeneration, with surgery230 Macular degeneration, w/o surgery 231 Non-macular degeneration, withsurgery 232 Non-macular degeneration, w/o surgery 233 Major visualdisturbances, with surgery 234 Major visual disturbances, w/o surgery235 Minor visual disturbances, with surgery 236 Minor visualdisturbances, w/o surgery 237 Other diseases and disorders of the eyeand adnexa 250 Heart transplant 251 AMI, with coronary artery bypassgraft 252 AMI or acquired defect, with valvular procedure 253 AMI, withangioplasty 254 AMI with arrhythmia, with pacemaker implant 255 AMI,with cardiac catheterization 256 AMI, anterior wall with complication257 AMI, anterior wall w/o complication 258 AMI, inferior wall withcomplication 259 AMI, inferior wall w/o complication 260 Ischemic heartdisease, w/o AMI, with coronary artery bypass graft 261 Ischemic heartdisease, w/o AMI, with valvular procedure 262 Ischemic heart disease,w/o AMI, with angioplasty 263 Ischemic heart disease, w/o AMI, witharrhythmia, with pacemaker implant 264 Ischemic heart disease, w/o AMI,with cardiac catheterization 265 Ischemic heart disease, w/o AMI 266Pulmonary heart disease, w/o AMI 267 Aortic aneurysm, with surgery 268Aortic aneurysm, w/o surgery 269 Cardiac infection, with surgery 270Cardiac infection, w/o surgery 271 Valvular disorder, with complication272 Valvular disorder, w/o complication 273 Major conduction disorder,with pacemaker/defibrillator implant 274 Major conduction disorder, w/opacemaker/defibrillator implant 275 Minor conduction disorder 276Malignant hypertension with comorbidity 277 Malignant hypertension w/ocomorbidity 278 Benign hypertension with comorbidity 279 Benignhypertension w/o comorbidity 280 Cardiac congenital disorder, withsurgery 281 Cardiac congenital disorder, w/o surgery 282 Major cardiactrauma, with surgery 283 Major cardiac trauma, w/o surgery 284 Minorcardiac trauma 285 Other cardiac diseases 286 Arterial inflammation,with surgery 287 Major arterial inflammation, w/o surgery 288 Minorarterial inflammation, w/o surgery 289 Major non-inflammatory arterialdisease with surgery 290 Arterial embolism/thrombosis, w/o surgery 291Major non-inflammatory arterial disease, except embolism/ thrombosis,w/o surgery 292 Atherosclerosis, with surgery 293 Atherosclerosis, w/osurgery 294 Arterial aneurysm, except aorta, with surgery 295 Arterialaneurysm, except aorta, w/o surgery 296 Other minor non-inflammatoryarterial disease, with surgery 297 Other minor non-inflammatory arterialdisease, w/o surgery 298 Arterial trauma, with surgery 299 Arterialtrauma, w/o surgery 300 Vein inflammation, with surgery 301 Embolism andthrombosis of the veins 302 Disorder of the lymphatic channels 303Phlebitis and thrombophlebitis of the veins 304 Varicose veins of thelower extremity 305 Other minor inflammatory disease of the veins 306Venous trauma, with surgery 307 Venous trauma, w/o surgery 308 Otherdiseases of the veins 309 Cardiovascular disease signs & symptoms 320Infection of the oral cavity 321 Inflammation of the oral cavity, withsurgery 322 Inflammation of the oral cavity, w/o surgery 323 Trauma ofthe oral cavity, with surgery 324 Trauma of the oral cavity, w/o surgery325 Other diseases of the oral cavity, with surgery 326 Other diseasesof the oral cavity, w/o surgery 327 Otitis media, with major surgery 328Otitis media, with minor surgery 329 Otitis media, w/o surgery 330Tonsillitis, adenoiditis or pharyngitis, with surgery 331 Tonsillitis,adenoiditis or pharyngitis, w/o surgery 332 Sinusitis and Rhinitis, withsurgery 333 Sinusitis and Rhinitis, w/o surgery 334 Other ENT infection,with surgery 335 Other ENT infection, w/o surgery 336 Major ENTinflammatory conditions with surgery 337 Major ENT inflammatoryconditions w/o surgery 338 Minor ENT inflammatory conditions withsurgery 339 Minor ENT inflammatory conditions w/o surgery 340 ENTmalignant neoplasm, with surgery 341 ENT malignant neoplasm, w/o surgery342 ENT benign neoplasm, with surgery 343 ENT benign neoplasm, w/osurgery 344 ENT congenital anomalies, with surgery 345 ENT congenitalanomalies, w/o surgery 346 Hearing disorders, with surgery 347 Hearingdisorders, w/o surgery 348 ENT trauma, with surgery 349 ENT trauma, w/osurgery 350 Other ENT disorders, with surgery 351 Other ENT disorders,w/o surgery 352 Otolaryngology disease signs & symptoms 371 Viralpneumonia, with comorbidity 372 Viral pneumonia, w/o comorbidity 373Bacterial lung infections, with comorbidity 374 Bacterial lunginfections, w/o comorbidity 375 Fungal and other pneumonia, withcomorbidity 376 Fungal and other pneumonia, w/o comorbidity 377Pulmonary TB with comorbidity 378 Pulmonary TB w/o comorbidity 379Disseminated TB with comorbidity 380 Disseminated TB w/o comorbidity 381Acute bronchitis, with comorbidity, age less than 5 382 Acutebronchitis, with comorbidity, age 5+ 383 Acute bronchitis, w/ocomorbidity, age less than 5 384 Acute bronchitis, w/o comorbidity, age5+ 385 Minor infectious pulmonary disease other than acute bronchitis386 Asthma with comorbidity, age less than 18 387 Asthma withcomorbidity, age 18+ 388 Asthma w/o comorbidity, age less than 18 389Asthma w/o comorbidity, age 18+ 390 Chronic bronchitis, withcomplication with comorbidity 391 Chronic bronchitis with complicationw/o comorbidity 392 Chronic bronchitis, w/o complication withcomorbidity 393 Chronic bronchitis w/o complication w/o comorbidity 394Emphysema, with comorbidity 395 Emphysema w/o comorbidity 396Occupational and environmental pulmonary diseases, with comorbidity 397Occupational and environmental pulmonary diseases, w/o comorbidity 398Other inflammatory lung disease, with surgery 399 Other inflammatorylung disease, w/o surgery 400 Malignant pulmonary neoplasm, with surgery401 Malignant pulmonary neoplasm, w/o surgery 402 Benign pulmonaryneoplasm, with surgery 403 Benign pulmonary neoplasm, w/o surgery 404Chest trauma, with surgery 405 Chest trauma, open, w/o surgery 406 Chesttrauma, closed, w/o surgery 407 Pulmonary congenital anomalies, withsurgery 408 Pulmonary congenital anomalies, w/o surgery 409 Otherpulmonary disorders 410 Pulmonology disease signs & symptoms 430Infection of the stomach and esophagus with comorbidity 431 Infection ofthe stomach and esophagus w/o comorbidity 432 Inflammation of theesophagus, with surgery 433 Inflammation of the esophagus, w/o surgery434 Gastritis and/or duodenitis, complicated 435 Gastritis and/orduodenitis, simple 436 Ulcer, complicated with surgery 437 Ulcer,complicated w/o surgery 438 Ulcer, simple 439 Malignant neoplasm of thestomach and esophagus, with surgery 440 Malignant neoplasm of thestomach and esophagus, w/o surgery 441 Benign neoplasm of the stomachand esophagus, with surgery 442 Benign neoplasm of the stomach andesophagus, w/o surgery 443 Trauma or anomaly of the stomach oresophagus, with surgery 444 Trauma of the stomach or esophagus, w/osurgery 445 Anomaly of the stomach or esophagus, w/o surgery 446Appendicitis, with rupture 447 Appendicitis, w/o rupture 448Diverticulitis, with surgery 449 Diverticulitis, w/o surgery 450 Otherinfectious diseases of the intestines and abdomen 451 Inflammation ofthe intestines and abdomen with surgery 452 Inflammation of theintestines and abdomen, w/o surgery 453 Malignant neoplasm of theintestines and abdomen, with surgery 454 Malignant neoplasm of theintestines and abdomen, w/o surgery 455 Benign neoplasm of theintestines and abdomen, with surgery 456 Benign neoplasm of theintestines and abdomen, w/o surgery 457 Trauma of the intestines andabdomen, with surgery 458 Trauma of the intestines and abdomen, w/osurgery 459 Congenital anomalies of the intestines and abdomen, withsurgery 460 Congenital anomalies of the intestines and abdomen, w/osurgery 461 Vascular disease of the intestines and abdomen 462 Bowelobstruction with surgery 463 Bowel obstruction w/o surgery 464 Irritablebowel syndrome 465 Hernias, except hiatal, with surgery 466 Hernias,except hiatal, w/o surgery 467 Hiatal hernia, with surgery 468 Hiatalhernia, w/o surgery 469 Other diseases of the intestines and abdomen 470Infection of the rectum or anus, with surgery 471 Infection of therectum or anus, w/o surgery 472 Hemorrhoids, complicated, with surgery473 Hemorrhoids, complicated, w/o surgery 474 Hemorrhoids, simple 475Inflammation of the rectum or anus, with surgery 476 Inflammation of therectum or anus, w/o surgery 477 Malignant neoplasm of the rectum oranus, with surgery 478 Malignant neoplasm of the rectum or anus, w/osurgery 479 Benign neoplasm of the rectum or anus, with surgery 480Benign neoplasm of the rectum or anus. w/o surgery 481 Trauma of therectum or anus, open, with surgery 482 Trauma of the rectum or anus,open, w/o surgery 483 Trauma of the rectum or anus, closed 484 Otherdiseases and disorders of the rectum and anus, with surgery 485 Otherdiseases and disorders of the rectum and anus, w/o surgery 486Gastroenterology disease signs & symptoms 510 Liver Transplant 511Infectious hepatitis, high severity with comorbidity 512 Infectioushepatitis, high severity w/o comorbidity 513 Infectious hepatitis, lowseverity with comorbidity 514 Infectious hepatitis, low severity w/ocomorbidity 515 Non-infectious hepatitis, with complications 516Non-infectious hepatitis, w/o complications 517 Cirrhosis, with surgery518 Cirrhosis, w/o surgery 519 Acute pancreatitis 520 Chronicpancreatitis 521 Cholelithiasis, complicated 522 Cholelithiasis, simple,with surgery 523 Cholelithiasis, simple, w/o surgery 524 Malignantneoplasm of the hepato-biliary system, with surgery 525 Malignantneoplasm of the hepato-biliary system, w/o surgery 526 Benign neoplasmof the hepato-biliary system, with surgery 527 Benign neoplasm of thehepato-biliary system, w/o surgery 528 Trauma of the hepato-biliarysystem, complicated, with surgery 529 Trauma of the hepato-biliarysystem, complicated, w/o surgery 530 Trauma of the hepato-biliarysystem, simple 531 Other diseases of the hepato-biliary system, withsurgery 532 Other diseases of the hepato-biliary system, w/o surgery 533Hepatology disease signs & symptoms 550 Kidney Transplant 551 Acuterenal failure, with comorbidity 552 Acute renal failure, w/o comorbidity553 Chronic renal failure, with ESRD 554 Chronic renal failure, w/o ESRD555 Acute renal inflammation, with comorbidity 556 Acute renalinflammation, w/o comorbidity 557 Chronic renal inflammation, withsurgery 558 Chronic renal inflammation, w/o surgery 559 Nephroticsyndrome, minimal change 560 Nephrotic syndrome 561 Other renalconditions 562 Nephrology disease signs & symptoms 570 Infection of thegenitourinary system with surgery 571 Infection of the genitourinarysystem w/o surgery 572 Sexually transmitted infection of the lowergenitourinary system 573 Infection of the lower genitourinary system,not sexually transmitted 574 Kidney stones, with surgery withcomorbidity 575 Kidney stones, with surgery w/o comorbidity 576 Kidneystones, w/o surgery with comorbidity 577 Kidney stones, w/o surgery w/ocomorbidity 578 Inflammation of the genitourinary tract except kidneystones, with surgery 579 Inflammation of the genitourinary tract exceptkidney stones, w/o surgery 580 Malignant neoplasm of the prostate, withsurgery 581 Malignant neoplasm of the prostate, w/o surgery 582 Benignneoplasm of the prostate, with surgery 583 Benign neoplasm of theprostate, w/o surgery 584 Malignant neoplasm of the genitourinary tract,except prostate, with surgery 585 Malignant neoplasm of thegenitourinary tract, except prostate, w/o surgery 586 Benign neoplasm ofthe genitourinary tract, except prostate with surgery 587 Benignneoplasm of the genitourinary tract, except prostate, w/o surgery 588Trauma to the genitourinary tract, with surgery 589 Trauma to thegenitourinary tract, w/o surgery 590 Urinary incontinence, with surgery591 Urinary incontinence, w/o surgery 592 Other diseases of thegenitourinary tract, with surgery 593 Other diseases of thegenitourinary tract, w/o surgery 594 Urological disease signs & symptoms610 Normal pregnancy, normal labor & delivery, with cesarean section 611Normal pregnancy, normal labor & delivery, w/o cesarean section 612Complicated pregnancy, with cesarean section 613 Complicated pregnancy,w/o cesarean section 614 Hemorrhage during pregnancy, with cesareansection 615 Hemorrhage during pregnancy, w/o cesarean section 616 Othercondition during pregnancy, with cesarean section 617 Other conditionduring pregnancy, w/o cesarean section 618 Fetal problems duringpregnancy, with cesarean section 619 Fetal problems during pregnancy,w/o cesarean section 620 Ectopic pregnancy, with surgery 621 Ectopicpregnancy, w/o surgery 622 Spontaneous abortion 623 Non-spontaneousabortion 624 Obstetric signs & symptoms 630 Infection of the ovaryand/or fallopian tube, with surgery 631 Infection of the ovary and/orfallopian tube, w/o surgery, with comorbidity 632 Infection of the ovaryand/or fallopian tube, w/o surgery, w/o comorbidity 633 Infection of theuterus, with surgery 634 Infection of the uterus, w/o surgery, withcomorbidity 635 Infection of the uterus, w/o surgery, w/o comorbidity636 Infection of the cervix, with surgery 637 Infection of the cervix,w/o surgery 638 Vaginal infection, with surgery 639 Monilial infectionof the vagina (yeast) 640 Infection of the vagina except monilial 641Inflammation of the female genital system, with surgery 642Endometriosis, w/o surgery 643 Inflammatory condition of the femalegenital tract except endometriosis, w/o surgery 644 Malignant neoplasmof the female genital tract, with surgery 645 Malignant neoplasm of thefemale genital tract, w/o surgery 646 Benign neoplasm of the femalegenital tract, with surgery 647 Benign neoplasm of the female genitaltract, w/o surgery 648 Conditions associated with menstruation, withsurgery 649 Conditions associated with menstruation, w/o surgery 650Conditions associated with female infertility, with surgery 651Conditions associated with female infertility, w/o surgery 652 Otherdiseases of the female genital tract, with surgery 653 Other diseases ofthe female genital tract, w/o surgery 654 Malignant neoplasm of thebreast, with surgery 655 Malignant neoplasm of the breast, w/o surgery656 Benign neoplasm of the breast, with surgery 657 Benign neoplasm ofthe breast, w/o surgery 658 Other disorders of the breast, with surgery659 Other disorders of the breast, w/o surgery 660 Gynecological signs &symptoms 670 Major bacterial infection of the skin, with surgery 671Major bacterial infection of the skin, w/o surgery 672 Minor bacterialinfection of the skin 673 Viral skin infection 674 Fungal skininfection, with surgery 675 Fungal skin infection, w/o surgery 676Parasitic skin infection 677 Major inflammation of skin & subcutaneoustissue 678 Minor inflammation of skin & subcutaneous tissue 679Malignant neoplasm of the skin, major, with surgery 680 Malignantneoplasm of the skin, major, w/o surgery 681 Malignant neoplasm of theskin, minor 682 Benign neoplasm of the skin 683 Major burns, withsurgery 684 Major burns, w/o surgery 685 Major skin trauma, exceptburns, with surgery 686 Major skin trauma, except burns, w/o surgery 687Minor burn 688 Minor trauma of the skin except burn, with surgery 689Open wound of the skin, w/o surgery 690 Minor trauma of the skin exceptburn and open wound, w/o surgery 691 Other skin disorders 692Dermatological signs & symptoms 710 Infection of the large joints withcomorbidity 711 Infection of the large joints w/o comorbidity 712Infection of the small joints with comorbidity 713 Infection of thesmall joints w/o comorbidity 714 Degenerative orthopedic diseases withhip or spine surgery 715 Degenerative orthopedic diseases with largejoint surgery 716 Degenerative orthopedic diseases with hand or footsurgery 717 Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis with complication withcomorbidity 718 Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis with complication w/ocomorbidity 719 Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis w/o complication withcomorbidity 720 Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis w/o complication w/ocomorbidity 721 Adult rheumatoid arthritis with complication withcomorbidity 722 Adult rheumatoid arthritis with complication w/ocomorbidity 723 Adult rheumatoid arthritis w/o complication withcomorbidity 724 Adult rheumatoid arthritis w/o complication w/ocomorbidity 725 Lupus, with complication 726 Lupus, w/o complication 727Autoimmune rheumatologic disease except lupus 728 Inflammation of thejoints other than rheumatoid arthritis, with comorbidity 729Inflammation of the joints other than rheumatoid arthritis, w/ocomorbidity 730 Degenerative joint disease, generalized 731 Degenerativejoint disease, localized with comorbidity 732 Degenerative jointdisease, localized w/o comorbidity 733 Infections of bone, with surgery734 Infections of bone, w/o surgery 735 Maxillofacial fracture ordislocation, with surgery 736 Maxillofacial fracture or dislocation, w/osurgery 737 Pelvis fracture or dislocation, with surgery 738 Pelvisfracture or dislocation, w/o surgery 739 Hip and/or femur fracture ordislocation, with surgery 740 Hip and/or femur fracture or dislocation,open, w/o surgery 741 Hip and/or femur fracture or dislocation, closed,w/o surgery 742 Upper extremity fracture or dislocation, with surgery743 Upper extremity fracture or dislocation, open, w/o surgery 744 Upperextremity fracture or dislocation, closed, w/o surgery 745 Lowerextremity fracture or dislocation, with surgery 746 Lower extremityfracture or dislocation, open, w/o surgery 747 Lower extremity fractureor dislocation, closed, w/o surgery 748 Trunk fracture or dislocation,with surgery 749 Trunk fracture or dislocation, open, w/o surgery 750Trunk fracture or dislocation, closed, w/o surgery 751 Malignantneoplasm of the bone and connective tissue, head and neck 752 Malignantneoplasm of the bone and connective tissue other than head and neck 753Benign neoplasm of the bone and connective tissue, head and neck 754Benign neoplasm of the bone and connective tissue other than head andneck 755 Internal derangement of joints, with surgery 756 Internalderangement of joints, w/o surgery 757 Major orthopedic trauma otherthan fracture or dislocation, with surgery 758 Major orthopedic traumaother than fracture or dislocation, w/o surgery 759 Major neck and backdisorders, with surgery 760 Major neck and back disorders, w/o surgery761 Bursitis and tendinitis, with surgery 762 Bursitis and tendinitis,w/o surgery 763 Minor orthopedic disorder except bursitis andtendinitis, with surgery 764 Minor neck and back disorder, exceptbursitis and tendinitis, w/o surgery 765 Minor orthopedic disorder otherthan neck and back, except bursitis and tendinitis, w/o surgery 766Orthopedic congenital and acquired deformities, with surgery 767Orthopedic congenital and acquired deformities, w/o surgery 768Orthopedic and rheumatological signs & symptoms 780 Uncomplicatedneonatal management 781 Chromosomal anomalies 782 Metabolic relateddisorders originating the antenatal period 783 Chemical dependencyrelated disorders originating in the antenatal period 784 Mechanicalrelated disorders originating in the antenatal period 785 Otherdisorders originating in the antenatal period 786 Other major neonataldisorders, perinatal origin 787 Other minor neonatal disorders,perinatal origin 788 Neonatal signs & symptoms 790 Exposure toinfectious diseases 791 Routine inoculation 792 Non-routine inoculation793 Prophylactic procedures other than inoculation and exposure toinfectious disease 794 Routine exam 795 Contraceptive management, withsurgery 796 Contraceptive management, w/o surgery 797 Conditional exam798 Major specific procedures not classified elsewhere 799 Minorspecific procedures not classified elsewhere 800 Administrative services801 Other preventative and administrative services 810 Late effects andlate complications 811 Environmental trauma 812 Poisonings and toxiceffects of drugs 900 Isolated signs, symptoms and non-specific diagnosesor conditions 990 Drug record, no drug module 991 Orphan drug record 992Non-Rx NDC code 993 Invalid NDC code 994 Invalid provider type, e.g.,dentist 995 Record outside date range 996 Invalid CPT-4 code 997 InvalidDx code 998 Inappropriate Dx-CPT-4 matched record 999 Orphan record

What is claimed is:
 1. A cluster of correlated medical claim records fora single medical patient, consisting of at least one of a plurality ofmedical claim records grouped to a common anchor record.
 2. An episodetreatment group comprising at least one of a plurality of clustersaccording to claim
 1. 3. A computer-implemented episode treatmentgrouping of related medical claim data encoded as a plurality of machinereadable bits on a machine readable carrier, comprising one anchorrecord and n data records linked thereto, the n data records beingselected from the group consisting of ancillary records, facilityrecords and prescription drug records, where n is an integer greaterthan or equal to
 0. 4. The episode treatment grouping according to claim3, wherein the anchor record further comprises one of a managementrecord and a surgery record.
 5. The episode treatment grouping accordingto claim 4, wherein the management record further comprises at least onemedical claim data representing services of a medical care providerengaged in direct evaluation, management or treatment of a patient. 6.The episode treatment grouping according to claim 4, wherein the surgeryrecord further comprises at least one medical claim data representingsurgical procedures, performed by a medical care provider.
 7. Theepisode treatment grouping according to claim 4, wherein the ancillaryrecord further comprises at least one medical claim data representingmedical care services which are incidental to the direct evaluation,management and treatment of a medical patient.
 8. The episode treatmentgrouping according to claim 4, wherein the facility record representsmedical claim data for use of a medical care facility.
 9. The episodetreatment grouping according to claim 4, wherein the drug record furthercomprises medical claim data representing pharmaceutical prescriptions.